QUESTION
Grandfathers oxygen somehow turned off in hospital now he can't remember who his own wife and family is
Asked on Feb 02nd, 2013 on Medical Malpractice - Texas
More details to this question:
A couple weeks ago my Grandfather went to the hospital because he had caught a bad case of bronchitis, the doctors found out that he's in the beginning stages of emphysema and he could barely breathe so they put him on oxygen. His lungs were so torn up he was only breathing 88 percent oxygen which the doctors said was deadly. Somehow the next day, luckily my grandmother was there, his oxygen was turned off. He couldn't breathe, he was going crazy saying he couldn't breathe, they called the nurse and she just thought he was having a panic attack and shot him up with ativan, then they realized his oxygen tank was off and his oxygen level went all the way down to 74 percent which totally screwed him up. They had to put him on the ventilator after that which couldn't help, so they put a trachea in his throat. Days later he still can't remember who anybody is. I think this would have never happened if it wasn't for the oxygen somehow being turned off. Is there any way they broke the law?
1 ANSWER
2 Awards
Jake:
Any oxygen level ("oxygen saturation") below about 92 is not good. Reaching 74 for any prolonged period of time can result in brain damage and/or death. There needs to be a neurologist looking into you grandfather's situation to determine whether there was permanent harm done. If that referral has not been made, then you or your family need to ask why not. For someone to have turned off the oxygen or to have allowed it to run out is completely inexcusable but probably not criminal unless someone did it intentionally. On the other hand it would likely be negligent and if your grandfather suffered permanent injury, your family should consider speaking with a firm like ours that handles medical malpractice. The other distressing thing is that the nurse gave Ativan which is a benzodiazapine and capable of causing further respiratory depression (i.e. make you grandfather's breathing even more difficult). I cannot imagine it would be appropriate to give that drug to someone who is having labored breathing.
I'm happy to answer any other questions you have if you would like to contact me.
Chris Hoffman
Hoffman, Sheffield, Sauseda & Hoffman
choffman@hsshlaw.com
800-753-5359 / www.hsshlaw.com
Answered on Feb 04th, 2013 at 5:55 PM