How’s that for a wake up call?
Colleen S. Burns, 41, had been admitted to St. Joseph’s hospital in central New York in 2009 for an overdose. She had taken what doctors assumed to be a fatal cocktail of Benadryl, Xanax, and a muscle relaxant.
Believed to be brain dead, her family had agreed to have her taken off life support and gave doctors permission to use her organs for medical purposes.
She then awoke in the Operating Room, seconds before surgery was to begin.
An investigation was launched that revealed that Ms. Burns did not receive optimal care from the hospital.
Initially, she did not undergo a treatment that could have saved her from the debilitating effects of the drugs she’d taken. Then, the day before the organ-donating procedure was supposed to occur, she exhibited signs of life. She responded to reflexes and appeared to be breathing independent of the respirator. The nurse reported these observations, but they were ignored. Stranger still, Ms. Burns was given a sedative before the surgery was set to begin. If she were really brain dead, a sedative would have been unnecessary. The doctors did not record the administration of the sedative.
The surgery was only halted when she opened her eyes in the Operating Room. A second later, and she would have been in half.
Sadly, Ms. Burns died soon after. She committed suicide. Neither her nor her parents pressed charges against the hospital. Lucille Kuss, her mother, said Burns “was so depressed that it really didn’t make any difference to her.”
Even so, the state Health Department and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found St. Joseph’s seriously lacking. In addition to $22,000 in fines, the hospital was forced to take measures to implement changes, including the hiring of a neurologist to teach staff how to diagnose brain death.
SOURCE: DailyMail
