An Oklahoma family gains a sense of justice after losing a beloved wife and mother

In 1999, Pauline McAuliffe was a healthy, active 79-year-old wife and mother with four adult children. She went in for emergency surgery to relieve a small bowel obstruction, a relatively uncomplicated procedure.

Unfortunately her stomach was full, a condition that can be dangerous when using anesthesia. In spite of the surgeon’s instructions to insert a nasogastric tube before anesthesia to relieve stomach pressure, the tube was not inserted.

Both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist agreed to intubate McAuliffe in the operating room while the patient was sedated. The anesthesiologist determined that McAuliffe would need rapid-sequence induction, an intubation process during which pressure is applied on the patient’s neck cartilage to prevent regurgitation of the stomach contents.

A tragedy in action

“The anesthesiologist mistakenly gave Mrs. McAuliffe excessive doses of anesthetic, then compounded this error by failing to ensure that the nurse applied appropriate cricoid pressure to the neck. The nurse testified that the anesthesiologist had never told her to do so,” said Mike Davis, who successfully represented McAuliffe’s family in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Belated attempts were made to secure McAuliffe’s airway, but as a result of the anesthetic, McAuliffe aspirated vomitus into her lungs. Although she survived the operation, her lungs were irreparably damaged.

After waking, she did not understand what had happened to her. She made desperate pleas to her family to be taken off the ventilator, but her lungs continued to deteriorate. She suffered acute respiratory distress, had a heart attack and died.

“This anesthesiologist’s negligence caused the death of a vital, active woman,” Davis said. “Hopefully the family will gain some sense of justice by holding him accountable for their tragic loss.”

Although death rates from anesthesia have declined from 1 per 10,000 cases in the early 1980s, they still occur at a rate of 1 per 250,000 cases today.