Patient Awarded $750,000 for Intubation Injury

A New York woman has been awarded $750,000 in pain and suffering damages after she went to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan for salivary gland surgery and left with a temporomandibular joint injury allegedly suffered during a forceful intubation.

Caridad Cuevas, 25 years old at the time of surgery, sued St. Luke's, accusing the attending anesthesiologist and second-year anesthesia resident who performed the intubation of negligence by being "overly aggressive in the manner in which they manipulated her mouth and jaw," court documents show.

She told jurors she could not open her mouth more than 15mm without pain, eat comfortably without cutting food into tiny pieces or kiss her husband normally. She also claimed to wear a mouthguard at all times to ease the effects of the injury, which causes her to lisp. Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

St. Luke's argued it could not be held responsible for the injury because Ms. Cuevas's private physician performed the surgery, therefore freeing the hospital of liability for any alleged negligence. In addition, St. Luke's claimed the attending anesthesiologist was employed outside of the hospital at the time of surgery.

The hospital further argued that even if it was responsible for the actions of the anesthesiologists, Ms. Cuevas failed to prove that her injury was sustained during the surgery, citing its expert witness's testimony that the anesthesia care was appropriate and proper, the vocal cords were easily visualized, indicating the intubation was not traumatic, and other health tissues could have put Ms. Cuevas at increased risk for TMJ injury. The expert witness also claimed to have never seen TMJ injuries caused by intubations and, due to the location of the procedure, the surgeon's manipulation of the jaw could have caused the injury.

Ms. Cuevas's expert witness disagreed, stating that Ms. Cuevas was found to have a normal functioning jaw during the pre-op anesthesia assessment, there was noting in her medical history that would indicate a predisposition for TMJ injury and the problem of overly aggressive intubations causing TMJ trauma has been reported in medical literature.

A St. Luke's spokesperson and the hospital's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Daniel Cook