MEDIA – A wrongful death lawsuit accuses a number of Delaware County health entities of improper care, in the case of a pregnant woman who was given an epidural injection to assist in the birthing process, but which instead caused fatal injuries.
Frederick M. Nice (as Administrator of the Estate of Margaret Bishop, deceased) of Wyomissing first filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on July 22 versus Crozer-Chester Medical Center, CCMC, Inc., Prospect CCMC, LLC (doing business as “Crozer-Chester Medical Center”) and Alexander Lay, MD, Associates In Anesthesia, Inc. and Associates In Anesthesia – Crozer of Upland, plus Prospect Provider Group Pa, LLC, Prospect Health Access Network, Inc. (doing business as “Crozer-Keystone Health Network”), Prospect Crozer, LLC (doing business as “Crozer-Keystone Health System”) and Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc., of Springfield.
“On Nov. 7, 2019, Bishop presented to Crozer-Chester Medical Center for elevated blood pressure during labor. Bishop was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant,” the suit states.
“The labor and delivery team assessed her and planned a repeat C-section for 10 a.m. the next morning on Nov. 8, 2019. Bishop also expressed that, if possible, she wanted a bilateral tubal ligation or placement of an intrauterine device during the operation. She was approved for both procedures. The plan for pain management for the C-section was spinal anesthesia.”
Before the C-section, defendant anesthesiologists Dr. Alexander Lay and Dr. Philip McClean performed a pre-op evaluation, where it was documented that Bishop had, among other things, morbid obesity. Nonetheless, she was cleared for the C-section procedure.
“The anesthesia administered in the spinal was a cocktail of tetracaine 1% 1.6 ml, bupivacaine 0.75% with dextrose 1.6 ml, epinephrine 200 mcg, fentanyl 20 mcg and hydromorphone 50 mcg. Lay administered an extremely high and potentially lethal dose of anesthetic for this morbidly obese patient in a knowing and grossly reckless deviation from the standard of care,” the suit says.
“Lay improperly administered this lethally high dose by administering it in the wrong place and/or in the wrong manner in a knowing and grossly reckless deviation from the standard of care. Within minutes of induction, Bishop became anxious, began flailing her arms, turned blue and complained that she “’can’t breathe.”
On Nov. 10, 2019, a brain MRI was reported as “diffuse cerebral ischemia” and Bishop was diagnosed with an anoxic brain injury after cardiac arrest, likely secondary to spinal anesthesia.
The suit says Bishop suffered agonizing pain and suffering, agitation, and impending doom as her condition worsened during the time period between Nov. 8 through Nov. 21, when she was extubated and pronounced dead at or around 7:59 p.m.
The suit adds that “administration of the excessive and lethal dose of epidural anesthesia and disregard for Bishop’s signs of impending arrest constituted reckless disregard for her continued health and safety, and put her at a substantially increased risk for life-threatening conditions, respiratory distress, cardiac arrest and death.”
“As a direct result of the negligence and knowing recklessness of defendants and each of them, as described herein, Bishop failed to receive proper anesthesia administration, intra-operative evaluation, surveillance, management and timely resuscitative measures, thereby increasing the risk of harm to her,” the suit states.
“As a direct and proximate result of the negligent and knowingly reckless epidural administration and mismanagement of Bishop’s arrest, as more fully set forth in this complaint, by all defendants jointly and severally, Bishop died prematurely.”
For multiple counts of negligence and corporate negligence, survival and wrongful death, the plaintiff is seeking, individually, jointly and severally, for compensatory and punitive damages, in excess of 50,000 and in excess of the prevailing arbitration limits, exclusive of pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest and costs.
The plaintiff is represented by Joel J. Feller, Jennifer L. Russell and Jason W. Poore of Ross Feller Casey, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2021-006277
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com