Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery

NightMonkey · Post by **NightMonkey** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:28 pm

Sleep Apnea Patient Given Strong Opiate Drugs After Surgery Dies of Anoxic Brain Injury
... “The surgery went brilliantly, and the man was admitted to the post anesthesia recovery unit. Oddly though, when he was admitted, the doctor wrote up a pre-authorized patient release,” Webb said.

Although the man had no pain when he went into the clinic, the nurse in the recovery unit gave him 1 mg. of Dilaudid IV. Less than an hour later, he got another 1 mg IV and handed him two tablets of Percocet. There was no written record of how much or what, if any, narcotics were to be given the man and none of his vital signs were charted after surgery was completed.

The man’s wife arrived to pick him up and they left the clinic before the full effect of the narcotics kicked in. Prior to leaving, neither the doctor, nor the nurse, assessed his condition. He went into cardio-respiratory arrest on the way home and died two days later.
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http://www.lawfirmnewswire.com/2011/07/ ... in-injury/

ameriken · Post by **ameriken** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:40 pm

Oops! And that's a big oops. Sad story actually, you go to supposed professionals who are there to save your life, and they end up killing you. Sounds like a big and well deserved lawsuit will follow.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:40 pm

Yup, the lack of documentation is going to haunt these "professionals" and bite them in the ..... where they should be bitten!

codinqueen · Post by **codinqueen** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 6:20 pm

I have been a patient in Marietta Surgical center Center, about 10 years ago, and they were very professional. I have since moved away from there, and find it difficult to believe that the nurses would so haphazardly pass out narcotics, nad the fact they say there were no orders is stunningly unbeleivable. Any nurse worth her certification and licensure would know they can't give anything to a patient without an order. There is more than meets the eye with this case, I think. Poor man, but he ALSO should have known he was more susceptible to opiates, did his sleep Dr never try to educate him at all? If the sleep Dr did not educate the man, he is JUST AS LIABLE. My sleep Dr sat me down and gave me a good talking to about all this stuff after my sleep study relating to our more depressed breathing after opiates, even though I am a nurse...He wanted to make sure I was aware of this, and he told me that he tells all of his OSA patients that too. My hubby watches me like a hawk after any surgical procedures now, and is very cautious with giving me any pain medicines the Dr may have prescribed for me. People need to be at least a little bit responsible for their own health and welfare. I am sorry to hear about this man, may he rest in peace, and I hope all the Drs in metro Atlanta will wake up and smell the coffee to be more careful with post-op orders.

Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery

Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery

Re: Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery

Re: Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery

Re: Sleep Apnea Patient Dies After Surgery