Type of Case: Automobile Collision and Anesthesia Medical Malpractice
Attorneys: William B. Kilduff, and Thomas J. McNally, Richmond
Summary: On April 24, 2017, the decedent was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend that was traveling on an interstate roadway. The driver lost control of the vehicle, which caused the vehicle to leave the roadway and crash into a ditch. The decedent sustained several cervical bone fractures.
The decedent was transported from the scene to a hospital where he underwent posterior cervical surgery to repair the cervical fractures.
At the conclusion of the surgery, as the decedent was being extubated from the anesthesia equipment, the decedent began to flail and he reached toward his endotracheal tube (ET tube) as if he intended to pull out the ET tube out of his throat. Fearing that the decedent would injure himself if he removed the ET tube, one of the anesthesia providers pulled the ET tube from the decedent’s throat. Within approximately a minute thereafter, the decedent’s heart stopped beating and he did not have a pulse. Due to the mismanaged extubation, the decedent sustained a hypoxic brain injury that required him to be placed on life support. The decedent never regained consciousness and he died approximately a week after the surgery when he was removed from life support.
The surviving family hired Emroch & Kilduff.
An investigation of the medical malpractice claim showed that the CRNA who was responsible for the anesthesia at the beginning of the surgery did not realize when the surgery started that the anesthesia equipment was not plugged into the electrical outlet in the wall, but was being powered by the battery back-up system. Approximately an hour into the surgery, unbeknownst to the CRNA, the battery died and the CRNA noticed that the decedent was not being well ventilated. An emergency code was called and one of the anesthesia providers discovered shortly thereafter that the anesthesia equipment was not plugged into the wall socket, but was being operated on battery power and the battery had died. They plugged the equipment into the wall socket and the operation continued. The decedent was not injured due to that error, but the failure of the anesthesia providers to document that the battery died during the surgery and that a code was called suggested a cover-up of the anesthesia error.
Plaintiff’s counsel made wrongful death claims against the automobile driver and against the anesthesiology team that attended the decedent during his cervical surgery. The automobile claim settled before suit was filed for the combined liability and UIM limits of $100,000. The medical malpractice claim settled at mediation, after suit was filed, for $1.9 million. The combined settlement was $2 million for the decedent’s wrongful death.