Suit: Man died aftermedical service ran out of oxygen

Artesia family says TriState CareFlight at fault in death

The family of an Artesia man is suing TriState CareFlight, a medical transport helicopter service, claiming the man died because the service ran out of oxygen while transporting him from Artesia to Albuquerque.

According to a complaint for wrongful death filed in state District Court, Michael Campbell, 64, went to the emergency room at the Artesia General Hospital on Jan. 8 complaining of fever and difficulty breathing.

Doctors at that hospital determined he needed a higher level of care and recommended he be transferred to PresbyterianHospital in Albuquerque because other closer facilities did not have beds available for him.

Campbell was stabilized before being transported, according to the complaint, and the transferring physician signed documentation stating that he with appropriate medical treatment, Campbell’s condition would not worsen during the trip.

The doctor recommended Campbell receive oxygen during the flight, according to the complaint, and he was picked up by a TriState CareFlight helicopter. However, the complaint says, Campbell was given a lower concentration of oxygen than recommended, administered via a delivery device on board.

“For reasons unknown,” Lee Hunt, the attorney of Campbell’s widow, said last week, “they left Artesia and stopped in Roswell to refuel, then took off from Roswell and about 30 minutes later realized they were low on oxygen.”

TriState CareFlight employees aboard the flight contacted emergency medical service providers on the ground inMountainair and arranged to land to get more oxygen, Hunt said.

But before they could reach the agreed-upon rendezvous point, the medical team ran out of oxygen.

She completed a bachelor’s degree in biology at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pa., and a master’s degree in biology at Drexel University, in Philadelphia. She earned her medical degree at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School ofMedicine.

When the two doctors met during their residency interviews, Barrera’s son Roman was only 6 weeks old. The two women found they talked easily. “Our husbands joke that we could talk to a wall for hours,” Goodman said.

They would end up spending a lot of time together over the next two years, studying, quizzing each other for their medical boards, sharing family dinners.

They are still growing in their friendship. Barrera’s goal this winter is to learn to ski. Goodman, who loves outdoor activities, has coaxed her into hiking.

“We’re working on the camping,” Goodman said. “We’re trying to move camping out of the backyard.”

Barrera laughed and noted the last camping excursion ended at 9 p.m. with her family back in their comfortable beds.

Their backgrounds make them a good fit for Española. Both women speak Spanish. Both are familiar with non-Western approaches to medicine.

Goodmanwas raised almost exclusively on alternativeways of healing. Barrera’smom often turned to herbs and traditional healers known as to treat health problems. “If I sprainedmy ankle, my mom didn’t take me to a doctor. She would take me to a ladywho would massagemy ankle until Biatris Barrera, left, and Rachel Goodman are shown in November at Presbyterian Española Hospital. the painwent away,” Barrera said.

Their medical school training taught them to consider the whole patient.

“The more I dig into their lives, the more the cause of their problem becomes clear,” Goodman said. “There is no cookiecutter recipe for patients.”

Barrera agrees. “The minute you try to peg a patient into a certain hole, it doesn’twork out well for their diagnosis and management of their problem. You have to considerwhat is driving that patient andwhat could be leading to their condition.”

The doctors are looking forward to treating multiple generations of women from the same families and to providing continuous care for years. It takes time to build trust between physician and patient, they said. “Someone who knows your story,” as Barrera put it.

They’re also looking forward to establishing a new minimally invasive surgery program in gynecology. The hospital has invested in equipment that allows the doctors to perform surgeries, such as removing ovarian cysts, that women from the area once had to have done in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. “The benefits are we can do the surgeries women might need with smaller incisions, shorter hospital stays and less pain post-operatively,” Goodman said. “People can get back to work sooner.”

Breland said he knew Barrera and Goodman were the right choices before they had even begun to work.

The doctors attended one of the baby showers the hospital hosts twice a year for mothersto-be. “They sat down, talked to every mother at the shower,” he said. “That confirmed for me that they were going to build a great practice. It takes a big level of commitment from the doctors to engage patients and do it every time.”