The plaintiff's decedent, age sixty-seven, was admitted to the hospital in April 2004 for throat surgery. After surgery the decedent was transferred to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator to assist her breathing. At some point the ventilator became disconnected, the decedent’s heart rate slowed and eventually stopped. The decedent was successfully resuscitated, but she had suffered a severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to lack of oxygen. She declined and died a few days later.

The plaintiffs claimed that nurses and other hospital employees failed to respond in a timely manner to the ventilator disconnect and the cardiac asystole alarm. The plaintiffs claimed that ten minutes passed before a nurse responded and resuscitation was started.

The hospital denied any negligence and contended that the ventilator did not become disconnected until about the time of the cardiac arrest. The defendant also contended that the cardiac arrest was due to an ischemic event causing hypoxia. According to a published account a $1 million verdict was returned.

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