Colorado teen suffers brain damage on operation table just as she was about to undergo breast implant surgery
A young girl from Colorado suffered from cardiac arrest resulting in irreversible brain damage just before she was about to undergo a breast implant surgery. Now the family of the patient is blaming the doctors for the botched procedure.
Dr. Geoffrey Kim and nurse anesthetist Rex Meeker are being accused of failing to call 911 on time, leaving patient Emmalyn Nguyen unattended for nearly 5 and half hours after her heart stopped on August 1. According to a report in NY Post, the young patient never even made it to the surgery.
David Woodruff, the lawyer of Nguyen's family, said, "They leave her on the operating table for 5½ hours and don’t call 911 for 5½ hours while Emmalyn’s mother sits in the waiting room unaware of what’s happening."
The lawyer also said that Nguyen was being prepped for her 2 pm surgery at Colorado Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery when she went into cardiac arrest. She was found unconscious 15 minutes later. The staff at the hospital tried to revive Nguyen through CPR, however, she did not regain full consciousness and nurse Meeker finally decided to call 911, hours later.
Woodruff said, "What should have been a very standard procedure turned into a nightmare for her and her family." Nguyen's parents are now suing Dr Kim and Nurse Meeker on the grounds of gross negligence.
Speaking about Nguyen's condition, her mother Lynn Fam said to FOX31, "Her body is still there but she's not there, so we feel like we lost a daughter. I just want to find out the truth, what happened and prevent this from happening to other people."
She also recalls, "The doctor finally came back out to tell me that I wasn't able to go back there to check up on her. She's doing fine and she's young, maybe that's the reason why she's taking longer to wake up." Nguyen's mother then added, "You don't let my daughter sit there because you thought she was going to wake up."
The couple also explained that their daughter wanted to improve her image and so she had decided to get breast augmentation done after she graduated from high school.
Meeker's lawyer Douglas Wolaske responded to the allegations and said, "Mr. Meeker’s care was reasonable and within the standard of care and we are confident that the facts will bear this out."
Meeker was sued in 2009 by a patient's husband in Summit County after his wife Paula Harty died following brain damage that she had suffered during a breast enhancement surgery. Meeker did self-report a medical malpractice settlement in 2012, confirmed a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. However, it cannot be confirmed if this settlement is related to the Harty lawsuit.