A patient who claimed an overdose of post-op pain medications caused him to code and suffer an anoxic brain injury after arthroscopic surgery won a $126,500 jury verdict in his malpractice suit against the nurse assigned to his post-operative care and her employers.
Ralph LeCroy and his wife, Earline, sued Sasha Sanders, RN, and both the staffing company that employed her — Interim Health Care Staffing of North Louisiana — and Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, La., arguing that Ms. Sanders breached the standard of care in her treatment of Mr. LeCroy while he recovered from rotator cuff surgery at Glenwood in June 2001. According to a report from West's Jury Verdicts, Mr. LeCroy received a total dose of 50 mg of IV Demerol in the recovery room after his procedure, and was then transferred to a room and assigned to the care of Ms. Sanders, a contract nurse employed by Interim.
Doctor's orders called for Mr. LeCroy to be monitored for his vital signs and any signs of respiration depression every 30 minutes, and to be administered 50 mg to 75 mg of Demerol "for severe pain every three hours as needed, or one to two tablets of Vicodin by mouth for moderate pain every three hours as needed," according to the West's report.
Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes after he'd received his last 25 mg dose of Demerol in the recovery room, Ms. Sanders administered another 50 mg of the pain medication to Mr. LeCroy, according to his medical charts. While the drug was administered, he began to snore loudly, but 10 minutes later he'd stopped snoring and had no pulse or respirations, prompting a code, CPR and intubation. Mr. LeCroy was moved to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator that evening, extubated the next day and remained hospitalized for a total of 5 days, including the day of surgery.
After returning home, Mr. LeCroy complained of memory loss to his family physician, who ordered an EEG and MRI. The tests revealed an anoxic brain injury, which the LeCroys blamed on overmedication with Demerol and other medications during his post-op recovery.
In lawsuits filed against Ms. Sanders, Interim and the hospital, the LeCroys alleged that the nurse failed to properly assess and monitor Mr. LeCroy, failed to provide him with appropriate nursing interventions and non-medication comfort measures, failed to properly follow the physician's orders and failed to notify the doctor of the ineffectiveness of Mr. LeCroy's pain relief before administering more medication, according to the West's report. Interim denied the LeCroys' allegations and maintained that its employees exceeded the standard of care.
The court ruled that Ms. Sanders was a "dual employee" of both Interim and Glenwood, therefore jurors were instructed to hold both employers responsible if they found Ms. Sanders to be negligent, even though Glenwood and the LeCroys had reached a previous settlement agreement, according to West's report. The hospital remained a defendant in the lawsuit in name only so the LeCroys could continue to pursue claims against Interim and Ms. Sanders.
The jury sided with the plaintiffs in April 2010, awarding Mr. LeCroy more than $116,000 for pain, suffering, mental anguish, emotional trauma and medical expenses, and an additional $10,000 to Mrs. LeCroy for loss of consortium. Ms. Sanders' attorney declined to comment on the verdict.
Irene Tsikitas
