Dead Anesthesiologist Loses Badly at Trial
I originally published this case in April 2021.
A 57-year-old woman with chronic abdominal pain was seen by Dr. W (gastroenterologist).
He thought she might have sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, and scheduled an ERCP.
Anesthesia was provided by a CRNA, with a supervising anesthesiologist.
At the end of the ERCP, she had a cardiac arrest and ultimately died.
The plaintiffs allege that the GI doctor never should have done the ERCP, and that the CRNA gave too much propofol and did not realize she was apneic.
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The GI doctor settled.
However, the anesthesiologist refused a $2,000,000 settlement offer.
The case went to trial last month, and in hindsight, he should have taken the settlement offer.
To complicate matters, the anesthesiologist died before the trial (notice how the verdict lists the defendant as “the Estate of Dr. A”).
I found his obituary to confirm that he had died.
I added a lot of extra details to this case that came out during the trial, which can you read at the original post.
One of the more interesting tidbits was the plaintiff’s GI expert deposition.
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This week’s case for paying subscribers is about a missed aortic dissection.
The patient presented with extreme hypertension and 10/10 back pain.
The ER doctor did not order any labs or imaging.
He prescribed lisinopril and discharged the patient.
Both the ER doctor and the vascular surgeon who did the endovascular repair after he bounced back got sued.
You can read the entire case here:
