Dincer’s Summary of Sait
I was shocked when I first heard the horrific news that my brother had died on the operating room table of a famous Fifth Avenue Plastic Surgeon’s office. I mean he was only 39 years old when he decided to get an in-office, non-emergency, elective liposuction procedure with this Plastic Surgeon. My brother, Sait, was supposed to be in the operating room for an hour, two at most, and to come out of the procedure looking great. The doctor was supposed to remove some fat off his waist, his chest and around his neck. It was supposed to be a simple cosmetic procedure. In and out. He paid the Plastic Surgeon around $20,000 in cash for this procedure. Instead, he came out dead, and his body was transported in a body bag to the morgue. No one could have predicted this outcome, but it really happened. The only issue for me and my family was why. The doctors claimed that they were not negligent and did nothing wrong here. But we suspected foul play because a healthy 39-year-old man does not’ normally go into an in-office liposuction procedure and come out dead. That is when we decided to hire an Expert Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Michael Gunzburg, Esq., for help.
Michael Gunzburg, P.C.’s law firm, was great. They conducted their own investigation. They secured all the medical records and hired several top experts in the medical field of Plastic Surgery and Anesthesiology. Together they took apart the case and examined every single medical record under a microscope. They also conducted extensive discovery and took examinations before trial of all the parties including the Plastic Surgeon, the Anesthesiologist, the scrub nurse, and circulating nurse. They fought hard against the doctor’s insurance lawyers, and they left no stone unturned. Their unrelenting efforts exposed what really happened in the operating room during my brother’s surgery. We could hardly believe the truth.
As it turned out there was a lot going on in the operating room at the time of my brother’s death. The plastic surgeon had a busy surgery schedule in his office that day. He already finished four plastic surgeries that morning and was scheduled to perform another one as soon as he finished with my brother’s procedure. He needed to finish my brother’s surgery, so he could start and finish the last procedure of the day. So, time was money for him. As the procedure was progressing the Plastic Surgeon was busy injecting tumescent fluid into my brother’s waist, chest, and neck. The circulating nurse was acting like a DJ in some nightclub and was playing Bob Marley music over the operating room’s stereo system. At this point, the anesthesia mask, called an LMA mask which delivered oxygen to my brother’s lungs was accidentally dislodged by the Plastic Surgeon. According to the Anesthesiologist, the Plastic Surgeon injected way too much fluid into my brother’s neck, which distorted his airway and dislodged the mask. The surgeon said that the mask was accidentally dislodged. The Anesthesiologist tried to re-insert the LMA mask, but she was unsuccessful. She claimed that she could not get the mask back in because the Plastic Surgeon injected too much fluid into my brother’s neck. The Anesthesiologist claims she then tried multiple times to intubate my brother by inserting a tube down his throat through his vocal cords. These actions traumatized my brother’s airway and caused a laryngospasm where the vocal cords just completely closed. Blood began to accumulate in my brother’s throat, and he did not get any oxygen into his lungs for 15 minutes. The Plastic Surgeon only wanted to complete the procedure so he could get to his next patient who was sitting in the waiting room. The Anesthesiologist panicked and was focused on intubating my brother. My brother had no chance of surviving in that operating room with those doctors.
We know today that everything could have been hugely different. Both doctors were grossly negligent. While the Plastic Surgeon should never have dislodged the LMA mask, the Anesthesiologist failed to follow the Difficult Airway Algorithm. This is a basic emergency protocol that every anesthesiologist is taught in their medical training. All the Anesthesiologist had to do was wake my brother up and put an oxygen mask on him. She could have also delivered a medication known as Sucs (succinylcholine which is commonly used to break a laryngospasm) which medication she had with her in the operating room. The medication would have unlocked the vocal cords and permitted her to easily intubate my brother. The Plastic Surgeon could also have saved him by performing a tracheotomy (which is a surgically created hole in the windpipe that provides the patient with an alternative airway for breathing). The Anesthesiologist never tried to wake my brother nor give him oxygen, and she also never gave him the sucs medication. The Plastic Surgeon never tried to perform a tracheotomy. What is even worse here, is that the doctors tried to cover up their negligence by changing the anesthesiology records to show that everything was normal right up until the time of my brother’s death. They also altered the records to show that his airway was more difficult than initially indicated. These doctors were not just negligent, they tried to cover up their negligence after the fact.
My brother died a horrific death which could have been easily prevented. While nothing will bring my brother back, Michael Gunzburg, P.C.’s and his team of experts helped pick apart the medical records and question the doctors under oath to help us understand what really happened to my brother. While no amount of money could ever pay for the loss of my brother’s life, Michael Gunzburg, P.C. helped secure millions for my family, and the maximum amount of insurance coverage available in the case. More importantly, they delivered a sense of justice to us in this case by helping us understand what really happened to my brother. For that, my family and I will always be extremely grateful for the hard work and successful results that Michael Gunzburg, P.C. achieved for us. We highly recommend them to help you get the answers you need and the compensation you deserve for your case.
