Area family files suit in anesthesia death
Civil action alleges negligence during an MRI procedure.
The family of a Springboro woman who ended up in a coma and later died after complications from an anesthesia attempt has sued Kettering Medical Center and Kettering Anesthesia Associates.
A civil lawsuit filed by the family of Wilma Parlett in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court alleges negligence and a seeks a declaratory judgment.
The attorneys for Ken Parlett and his daughter Shelley Ward did not comment on the lawsuit. Parlett, 67, died Nov. 13. An obituary of Parlett said that she retired from the floral department at Kroger.
The suit said Parlett went in July 14 for an MRI to see if she had a leak in a breast implant or if a lump in her breast was cancerous. Due to a history of claustrophobia, Parlett requested anesthesia before she was placed in the MRI machine.
Several minutes after she was given endotrachael anesthesia and flipped onto her stomach for the MRI, Parlett’s skin darkened, according to the suit.
After 10 minutes of resuscitation, the lawsuit said, “it was noted that Mrs. Parlett’s stomach was distended with bagging, and that there was an esophageal intubation.”
The lawsuit said Parlett was reintubated and resuscitated, but that she suffered severe and diffuse anoxic brain damage and remained in a vegetative state in a coma.
“My clients are very experienced anesthesia providers who are well-respected at the hospital,” said defense attorney Susan Blasik-Miller. “They are deeply saddened by this unexpected tragic outcome for their patient and her family. They truly believe they acted appropriately in Mrs. Parlett’s care. However, due to the pending lawsuit against them, we really can’t comment any further.”
The suit individually names as defendants Dr. Robert Maristela Kong, Dr. Gustavo Collins and nurse anesthetists Charles Thomas Shine and Noah Westfall.
The suit said the defendants “were negligent and deviated from the standard of care including but not limited to, in intubating Mrs. Parlett through her esophagus rather than through her trachea and/or in failing to recognize the esophageal intubation and to correct it immediately.”
Among the defenses listed by defense attorneys in court records were that Parlett “was fully advised, and executed consent forms memorializing her understanding, of all risks associated with the medical care involved” and that she was “fully advised of alternates available for her treatment and chose to proceed with the medical care, assuming the risks that were clearly inherent.”
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial, which is tentatively set for March 2016. Defense attorneys have asked for the complaint’s dismissal.
Due to being claustrophobic, the patient had requested anesthesia before an MRI.