![Travis Disch]()
Lawsuit settled in death after routine procedure at St. Mary’s Hospital
Lawsuit settled in death after routine procedure at St. Mary’s HospitalA lawsuit by the wife of a 37-year-old father of two who died at St. Mary’s Hospital after a routine procedure in 2013 has been settled.
The amount of the settlement, reached in June, is confidential. But the total is at least $3.75 million. That is because the state Injured Patients and Compensation Fund, which makes payments in medical malpractice cases only after a payment from a health care provider involved reaches at least $1 million, paid $2.75 million.
Travis Disch, of Monticello, suffered an irreversible brain injury from a lack of oxygen after undergoing an endoscopy, in which a tube was placed down his throat to determine the cause of swallowing problems.
Disch was under conscious sedation, in which drugs are given to relieve pain and anxiety but patients continue to breathe on their own. Some groups say an anesthesiologist or certified nurse anesthetist should be present during such procedures to monitor patients, but many places, including St. Mary’s, rely on nurses.
St. Mary’s spokeswoman Kim Sveum declined to say if the hospital has changed how it does conscious sedation or endoscopies. Last year, UW Hospital started requiring nurses who provide sedation during endoscopies to take a four-hour course in sedation, said Dr. Michael Lucey, chief of gastroenterology.
Nurses gave Disch more than double the dose of sedation drugs initially ordered, improperly monitored him and ignored warning signs of oxygen deprivation, the suit alleged.
Eric Farnsworth, the attorney who represented Donna Disch and her two minor daughters, said 21 minutes of Disch’s vital signs were missing from his medical records, the records said.
Attorneys for St. Mary’s said 14 minutes of data were missing but the information wasn’t intentionally destroyed or manipulated. When monitoring equipment was used for other patients, Disch’s data was copied over or erased, they said.
A state Department of Safety and Professional Services investigation into Dr. Jason Gonzaga, the Dean Clinic gastroenterologist who performed the endoscopy, was closed for insufficient evidence of any unprofessional conduct, said Eric Esser, deputy secretary of the department.
State investigations into nurses Jennifer Leatherberry and Dawn Timmerman, who were named in the lawsuit, are pending, said Jeff Weigand, assistant deputy secretary.
Filed under: General Problems
What a crying shame! Shows that nothing is routine I healthcare !
I just had thee exact procedure done w/the exact same doc,same hospital,,, not 1 ekg,,no pulse ox,,,notta,,,At ;least,,,i WOKE UP,,,i actual had a anesthesiologist,soo ,,,they change that at this hospital,,THANK GOD,,maryw
ALWAYS GET YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS,,,and,,,if doctors do not write down your symptoms,,,WHAT U TELL THEM,,, not what they cherry pick to prove a theory,,,,,write your own letter of your symptoms,and have them notarized and add’d to your records..I personally rane into this,,I added one of those old Pain Management diagrams of the body,,,,to show area’s that are in physical pain,,,Sooo no Doctor can ever say,,,”u never told me that,”,,or,,,,with my emergancy surgery,,not 1 ekg was done prior to surgery,,not 1,,,,u think w/ a history of 17 cardiac ablations,,,they would of watched my heart muscle???but the doc said on my follow,,,”u never told me that,”’ b.s.,,,Now a days,,, with opiatephobia,,get a copy of records,,make sure your medical condition is documented proper,,and BRING IN YOUR PHONE,,,RECORD AS MUCH AS U CAN,,, speaking from expereince here,,,maryw