Atlanta – The McArthur Law Firm is pleased to announce that it has received a favorable verdict regarding the wrongful death of our client’s spouse, in the amount of $13,775,000! Our client’s spouse, Bennie Moore, died Dec. 2017 of complications related to the administration of anesthesia for during an esophagogastroduodenoscopy.
Shortly after the administration of propofol for monitored anesthetic care, Moore stopped breathing. However, the physician’s assistant (PA-A) did not notice this critical fact until the attending physician had pointed it out. This was extremely important to our case because all parties knew Moore was a high-risk anesthesia patient, and was subject to hypoxic events and blocked airways due to her morbid obesity.
While medical staff acted quickly after Moore stopped breathing, the damage had been done. Moore lost her pulse for eight minutes, suffered a hypoxic brain injury and remained in a vegetative state for multiple weeks, fed by a PEG tube and using assisted breathing. Moore recovered slightly at Regency Hospital, where she awoke and was responsive, but ultimately died after a month of sepsis and cardiac arrest.
It was our contention that the PA-A violated the standards of care by failing to adequately monitor the patient. The fact that the PA-A needed a reminder that Moore stopped breathing is evidence of this fact. Moore was a high-risk patient due to her morbid obesity, and did not receive the level of care requisite of this fact. The jury ultimately agreed with our findings.
The Bibb County State Court found the PA-A 82.5% at fault and the anesthesiologist 17.5% at fault. Moore’s estate was awarded $775,000 in medical bills, $2.5 million in pain and suffering and $10.5 million for wrongful death.
While we suffered an unfortunate setback in regards to our chosen anesthesia expert, we are incredibly grateful for our partners, associates, and experts, including the trial team and PA-A expert Sally Mitchell. For the trial team, Katherine “Kathy” McArthur served as first chair, Lindsey Macon served as second chair, Caleb Walker handled legal issues, Quintesha Reynolds handled technology and Jessica Edmonds handled demonstratives.
