19 yo 5 feet 5 and 128 pounds college freshman gets liposuction "as couldn't lose the fat around her stomach and chin. So in May 2001, she and her mom consulted Glunk, who said that such "genetic fat" could be removed only through surgery"...which was done in doctors office NOT approved as ambulatory care center per PA state law --- and dies as result fat embolism. Karen
Posted on Sat, May. 24, 2008
Doc slammed with $20.5 million in damages after lipo death
Montco doc, anesthetist found liable after complications claim life of teen
Poor girl. It sounds like that doctor did deserve to be fined...
What a waste that people find the need to spend that much money to lose a few pounds. They could do something good with that money and I bet they would feel a million times better than losing a few pounds with lipo could ever make them feel.
I looked at several different news stories, but there just isn't enough information to make informed decision either way. Twenty-million dollars sounds outrageous especially from a family that states they weren't in it for the money.
Truth and information are worth more to most parents after a tragedy like this than anything. That is why most ethicists and hospitals are moving to full disclosure after a tragedy like this. You can't replace a child/person no matter what the price. Since there were no criminal charges...I don't think there were restrictions on the surgeon's or CRNA's licenses then all this court case did is make these two insurance premiums go sky high or potentially non insurable in which case they will probably both end up working for the government, IHS, or VA in some form or the other.
So, again for parents that said that they weren't in for the money 20 million seems kinda of ridiculous. I am sure the lawyer had a lot to do with the figure. These large judgements like this do nothing to help anyone. The providers can still practice, the family will never have their child again, and everyone's insurance premiums go up as a direct result of these kind of judgements.
It is a ridiculously huge settlement but Philly juries are notorious for that. The news media doesn't really depict a complete picture of what happened. I know several people who went to watch the trial who knew the CRNA. Apparently Dr. Glunk was scrubbed in the next case and calls for him to go eval the patient fell on deaf ears. The CRNA couldn't leave because he was the only one there and the surgeon refused to go see the pt. I also heard that the surgeon demanded that the ambulance go in through the back door so that no one in the waiting area would see. I certainly don't think a fat embolus is preventable, however I think the real issue here was the response time and slow recognition of what was happening.
Do you have any idea how this will affect the job market for CRNAs in the future? Will surgons be unwilling to hire in the future based on cases like this? Scary stuff. I'm still trying to decide to do CRNA or not.
Do you have any idea how this will affect the job market for CRNAs in the future? Will surgons be unwilling to hire in the future based on cases like this? Scary stuff. I'm still trying to decide to do CRNA or not.
The "captain of the ship" doctrine, where the surgeon is responsible for the actions of the OR staff members, no longer holds up in a court of law. Therefore, a CRNA is legally fully liable for his or her own actions, just as an anesthesiologist would be. So no, this will not effect CRNAs practicing independently. Being a CRNA is an enormous responsiblity, and this case further drives home that point.
I think many of you are missing a critical point. If CRNA's are as good as an anesthesiologist who are trained not just for the OR but periop, did the CRNA fail to recognize a life-threatening condition and did the CRNA know how to handle the situation? If the girl died from a fat embolism, there's nothing that a plastic surgeon can do to save her. That's the role of critical care medicine. The CRNA should have recognized the emergency and at the very least called for an ambulance to take her to a hospital. Would an anesthesiologist have waited for the surgeon's permission to take action? No.
Do you really want me to post many, many, many instances of poor outcomes involving just an anesthesiologist? Poor outcomes happen with both types of provider but thankfully they are a rare, rare event as you should well know if you read the ASPF site (which also posts those statistics involving anesthesiologists).
"Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones"
I think many of you are missing a critical point. If CRNA's are as good as an anesthesiologist who are trained not just for the OR but periop, did the CRNA fail to recognize a life-threatening condition and did the CRNA know how to handle the situation? If the girl died from a fat embolism, there's nothing that a plastic surgeon can do to save her. That's the role of critical care medicine. The CRNA should have recognized the emergency and at the very least called for an ambulance to take her to a hospital. Would an anesthesiologist have waited for the surgeon's permission to take action? No.
Again it comes back to what are your qualifications n_g to determine anything? You haven't got a clue about what a CRNA does (I am not sure you know anything about nursing in general), what their training is, and I seriously doubt you know anything about anesthesiologist training either.
CRNAs are trained to recognize an emergency inside the OR and out. This was well within the realm of the CRNA (and unless you have the entire court case/medical files in front of you I am sure you can't make informed decision whether the CRNA acting appropriately or not), but if you want to start disparaging APNs/CRNAs again I will go and pull up a sample of the thousands of cases were MDAs were involved in claims cases.
2011NursingStudent
346 Posts
Poor girl. It sounds like that doctor did deserve to be fined...
What a waste that people find the need to spend that much money to lose a few pounds. They could do something good with that money and I bet they would feel a million times better than losing a few pounds with lipo could ever make them feel.