Free Consultations 24/7 (503) 773-3333
Toll Free (855) 503-5035
An Oregan man, Ericc Gilbert, died tragically from a routine colonoscopy at an outpatient surgery center in Portland, Oregon, in 2018. Tillman Law Personal Injury Lawyer Aaron Tillman and associates representing the family brought suit in state court and recently secured a $24,613,500 verdict.
42-year-old Gilbert scheduled a colonoscopy in 2018 at the age of 43 to try and get to the bottom of some medical issues he had been experiencing.
Gilbert had high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnea, and a BMI above the threshold that should have called for the procedure to be conducted in a hospital setting. Yet, the procedure was instead scheduled at the Alberty Surgical Center, one of the Portland Clinic’s outpatient locations.
Shortly after Dr. David Stellway anesthetized Gilbert, his blood pressure began to rise, and his oxygen levels began to fall.
Despite this, Dr. Young Choi, the gastroenterologist performing the procedure, continued with the procedure even when the sedation nurse, Kathryn Carlson, noticed that Gilbert was showing signs of respiratory distress and pale skin.
Dr. Stellway began “bagging” Gilbert using an external respiration mask but did not advise Dr. Choi to stop the colonoscopy when asked if pausing the procedure would help restore the patient’s airway.
At this point, Gilbert had been in respiratory distress for almost 8 minutes, but Dr. Choi continued and finished the procedure as Gilbert’s vitals continued to worsen.
Eventually, a surgical technician in the room, Janice Dulle–but not Dr. Choi nor the original sedation nurse–realized the severity of the situation and hit the “code” button, at which time a nearby EMS team found Gilbert at the point of full cardiac arrest.
When EMS arrived, no CPR was being given despite the “code” button being hit. Attorney Claggett, a member of the trial team, claimed in the highly publicized trial that adequate CPR began a shocking 22 minutes after Gilbert stopped breathing.
Gilbert was ultimately taken to a local hospital, where he was unfortunately declared brain dead and died shortly thereafter.
Gilbert’s family, represented by a trial team of attorneys that included our own Aaron Tillman of Tillman Law Firm, brought suit against the clinic for medical malpractice and failure to provide emergency resuscitation in time to save his life. The trial began on July 31 and wrapped up on August 16th.
During the trial, the clinic’s attorney defended the actions of three of the involved providers and placed the blame completely on Dr. Spillway, who has since surrendered his license and settled out of the case. Our trial team combatted this allegation through evidence that the staff knew of Gilbert’s distress and should have begun emergency procedures immediately.
We successfully argued that Gilbert’s weight and sleep apnea should have prompted his procedure to be carried out in a hospital setting, and Dr. Choi should have immediately stopped the procedure after Gilbert stopped breathing and Dr. Stellway began bagging the patient.
The clinic was utterly unprepared to handle an emergency resuscitation, as shown by expert witnesses on both sides. It was irresponsible and extremely dangerous to perform the procedure at the Clinic. “The critical testimony was that of the defense experts admitting that there was absolutely no training at the Portland Clinic on how to deal with emergency response,” lead Attorney Clagget said of the verdict.
The jury ultimately assigned 60 percent liability to Dr. Stellway and 40 percent to the Portland Clinic, a verdict that was accurately predicted by our data. The final verdict was $24,613,500 million.
Our hope for the future after this case is that surgical centers will take note and improve their emergency response team training. Any centers where general anesthesia is administered should be properly trained and prepared for emergency situations such as the tragedy in this case.
We sincerely hope that surgical centers in Portland and across the country will take every possible precaution or otherwise conduct risky procedures in a hospital setting from now on.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a personal injury or wrongful death case in an Oregon medical malpractice incident, contact Tillman Law today so we can get you the compensation you deserve for your suffering and hold negligent medical providers accountable, as we did in this case.
If you were injured in an accident in Portland, OR, please contact our Portland personal injury lawyers at Tillmann Law Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation today.
We proudly serve all throughout Multnomah County in Oregon. Visit our office at:
Tillmann Law Personal Injury Lawyers
101 SW Main St. #1905
Portland, OR, 97204
(503) 773-3333
