The plaintiff, the mother of the ten year-old decedent , claimed the defendants, a hospital facility and their doctors and staff, improperly treated the decedent for her asthma and caused her death.

The decedent suffered a severe asthma attack and was transported by ambulance to the medical facility. She was intubated but fought against the ventilator and was tied to her bed. She responded well to the ventilator and her condition stabilized. The doctor noticee the endotracheal tube was too short. The anesthesiologist, arrived and one of the men had removed the tube. The nurse stated that the decedent fought attempts to replace the tube and had to be manually restrained. The decedent was then ambu-bagged. An emergency code blue was called. Epinephrine in the amount of 10 milligrams was given to the decedent, 28 times greater the recommended dosage. She received 8 dosages of the epinephrine, each in an 85 minute time period. The decedent’s ventilator was set to deliver 60 breaths per minute, an excessive rate. Eventually the decedent’s lungs burst and she died.

The plaintiff’s experts claimed the hospital facility, its doctors and staff should have administered anticholinergic agents, brochodilators, and intravenous glucocorticoids. They claimed that the defendants should have administered sedatives, a paralytic agent and a muscle-relaxant in order to relax the decedent and ease intubation, making physical restraint unnecessary. They also stated that it was unnecessary for the doctor to remove the decedent’s tube, that a small retraction would have corrected the shortness, that the doctor removed the tube 15 minutes before the anesthesiologist arrived, and that the doctor should have sedated the decedent before re-inserting the tube. The plaintiff’s experts claimed the epinephine and oxygen was administered in excessive amounts and that the hospital staff were negligent. The defendants denied any negligence. The plaintiff sought damages for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering during her last hours of life. According to a published account a $3,500,000 verdict for the plaintiff was entered with the hospital being assigned forty percent liability, the doctors forty-five percent liability, the anesthesiologist five percent liability, and the nurse ten percent liability.

With permission from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts; Lewis Laska, Editor, 901 Church St., Nashville, TN 37203-3411, 1-800-298-6288.