Patient Dies After Receiving General Anesthesia

ByJoseph O'Neill

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Updated onSeptember 29, 2017

Patient Dies After Receiving General Anesthesia

This case takes place in Pennsylvania and involves a male patient who was a candidate for an elective cosmetic procedure. The patient underwent a preoperative workup, which revealed some troubling findings with his heart. In spite of these findings, his providers planned to have him undergo the surgery and then undergo cardiac evaluation following the procedure. The patient presented for the procedure as planned and was monitored for the duration. The patient received general anesthesia. No vital signs were documented after the procedure. Some time after the procedure, the patient was found unresponsive in the recovery room. The patient appeared to have suffered a massive heart attack, and doctors were unable to resuscitate him.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Do you treat patients with similar presentation? If so, how often?

2. What is the standard of care for these kinds of patients? How should these patients be monitored postoperatively?

Expert Witness Response E-008119

inline imageI have been involved in similar situations as a caregiver, as a reviewer on our hospital's code committee, and as an expert. There are many reasons for this arrest and the primary reason in all of these cases is inappropriate monitoring leading to a respiratory event.

About the author

Joseph O'Neill

Joseph O'Neill

Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.

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