A medical malpractice lawsuit was recently filed against David Tomlinson of Grand Anesthesia Group after a routine wrist surgery went wrong. The lawsuit was filed by Jill Lubing and alleges that Tomlinson and his professional group were “negligent and didn’t follow proper safety precautions when administering a nerve block at St. John’s Medical Center in March 2015.” Tomlinson and her lawyers have so far denied the allegations.
A medical malpractice lawsuit was recently filed against David Tomlinson of Grand Anesthesia Group after a routine wrist surgery went wrong. The lawsuit was filed by Jill Lubing and alleges that Tomlinson and his professional group were “negligent and didn’t follow proper safety precautions when administering a nerve block at St. John’s Medical Center in March 2015.” Tomlinson and her lawyers have so far denied the allegations.
What happened, though? How did the wrist procedure go wrong? Well, according to Lubing’s attorneys, Rob Stepans and Ryan Shaffer, the regional nerve block administered during the procedure “made its way into her bloodstream,” causing needless harm. As a result of the error, Lubing “went into cardiopulmonary collapse, stopped breathing and had several seizures — something they say created a hypoxic brain injury.”
As a result of the incident, Lubing now goes about her days feeling as though she is “in a fog,” according to her lawyers. She has also begun to isolate herself from others because the incident has caused her to have “problems speaking, finding words, remembering things, focusing and balancing.” As such, she no longer socializes and enjoys activities, such as horseback riding, that she did before the incident.
Speaking on behalf of his client, Shaffer said that Lubing will “never be the same as she was before the surgery and that on multiple levels and in multiple ways, what happened to Jill Lubing was ultimately avoidable.”
On the other side of the aisle, Tomlinson’s legal team argues that he had nothing to do with Lubing’s brain injury. According to attorney Jeff Brinkerhoff, “Lubing’s brain injury was from the horseback riding fall that resulted in the broken wrist that needed surgery in the first place and her pre-existing conditions.” He said, “This is a case about jumping to the wrong conclusions.”
It’s important to note that, despite the lawsuit, Tomlinson’s “medical license and ability to practice medicine are not in question.” During opening arguments in the case, which is expected to last through next week, both sides will likely call on medical experts to try and determine important details, including “the length of Lubing’s seizures and if brain cell damage could’ve occurred during that time frame; whether the kind of brain damage she claims to have would appear on an MRI; and the role (if any) previous head injuries might have played in the brain damage.” Some of the medical experts who may chime in on the matter include neurologists, anesthesiologists, and neuropsychologists.
The trial is also expected to take a deeper look at what may have happened in the operating. To get a better picture of what may have occurred, nurses and other members of the medical team that worked on Lubing may be questioned.
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