The man was planning to have bariatric surgery that required that he undergo pre-surgery medical clearance. As part of the medical clearance for surgery, he went to the hospital to have an endoscopy procedure…medicalmalpracticelawyers.com, $8M Baltimore Medical Malpractice Verdict For Wrongful Death Involving Endoscopy
He was not given general anesthesia during the endoscopy but instead was under twilight sleep sedation during the procedure.
The anesthesiologist who was participating in the low-risk endoscopy allegedly failed to timely and appropriately respond to man’s falling oxygen saturations, respirations, and then his dropping heart rate, which began shortly after the endoscopy procedure began, and lasted from eight to twelve minutes during which time the anesthesiologist continued to bag-mask the patient but failed to intubate. After at least eight minutes, another anesthesiologist responded to the procedure room after being called in to assist, and immediately intubated the man. It was not established why the first anesthesiologist failed to timely intubate.
The plaintiffs’ economist testified during trial that the economic damages suffered by the plaintiffs were between $1.5 million and $1.6 million.
The Baltimore medical malpractice verdict was against the original anesthesiologist and his medical group. The hospital where the endoscopy was performed was originally named as a defendant but was dismissed from the case before trial.