Surgery was performed for removal of the tumor, which was identified as a T-cell lymphoma. The patient did not regain consciousness after the surgery. CT performed shortly thereafter showed herniation of the brain and diffuse hypoxic damage of a duration to suggest that it had occurred before the surgery.
The family refused a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order and discontinuation of life support. For nine days after the surgery, the medical staff tried to persuade the family that the patient was dead; they then wrote a DNR order in the chart. When the family protested, doctors transferred the decedent out of the ICU and discontinued all medical support; they also clamped the ventriculostomy tube that had been placed after surgery. The decedent’s blood pressure and pulse remained normal, and his only requirements for life were IV fluids and a respirator.
After continued protest, the family was told that DNR orders are within the doctor’s decision. Consent was then sought to harvest the decedent’s organs for transplantation. Some 25 family members were present when a nurse discontinued the ventilator, and the man died.
Twenty-one family members sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs claimed that the decedent was in a coma that was caused not by the tumor but by hydrocephalus and increased intracranial pressure that accompanied the tumor. The plaintiffs claimed that a decompressing ventriculostomy would have prevented the herniation and hypoxic brain damage; this developed either before or during the surgery, which they charged was delayed. The plaintiffs also claimed that the decedent was not dead when life support was discontinued. The last electroencephalogram showed brain activity, they claimed, and the decedent’s blood pressure and pulse remained normal without any medical support. The plaintiffs also claimed that the decedent made respiratory movements for five minutes after the respirator was discontinued.
The defendants argued that the delay in performing surgery was necessary and that the decedent’s deterioration resulted from administration of sedatives to obtain a clear MRI. The defendants also claimed that the decedent was brain-dead after the surgery and that malpractice and wrongful death claims could not be applied to a person who was already dead.
According to a published report, a $425,000 settlement was reached.