Sommers Schwartz attorney Kenneth Watkins filed a wrongful death action on behalf of a woman whose husband was placed under general anesthesia and died during surgery to amputate a gangrenous toe.

According to the complaint, the decedent presented to the emergency room, where the defendant podiatrist diagnosed gangrene in the left foot, osteomyelitis, and cellulitis, and determined that the patient should be taken to surgery to drain the left foot and amputate the left great toe. Although the decedent consented to general anesthesia, neither the defendant anesthesiologist nor the defendant nurse anesthetist obtained medical clearance before surgery. Almost immediately upon being given Propofol in the operating room, the decedent’s heart stopped. After he was intubated, a cardiologist attempted to implant an internal pacer. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was unsuccessful, and the patient died on the operating table.

The lawsuit claims that because the decedent suffered from diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension, he never should have been administered general anesthesia. The complaint alleges the defendants failed to obtain a full medical clearance before administering anesthesia, negligently administered anesthesia to a patient with severe underlying conditions, and failed to consider and administer safer anesthesia alternatives, including a local or spinal anesthetic.