The anesthesia group was found not liable in a $2.6 million wrongful death suit brought forward by the deceased patient’s wife.
The plaintiff alleged that an anesthesiologist wrongfully and unknowingly placed an endotracheal tube into her husband’s esophagus during emergency surgery, causing him to enter into cardiorespiratory arrest and die.
The provider argued against the negligence allegations on the basis that the true cause of the decedent’s death was a mucus plug obstruction that could be seen on a CT scan of the patient hours before the anesthesiologist saw him for the surgery.
