The family of a Minnesota man who died after falling off an operating room table has filed a lawsuit blaming personnel at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul for failing to use proper patient restraining equipment.

On March 8, Max DeVries was scheduled to undergo a routine lumbar drain replacement following a stroke he suffered in February. While sedated, the 61-year-old rolled off the table and hit his head on the OR floor, according to a lawsuit filed this week by attorney Robert Hajek.

Mr. DeVries suffered acute and significant bleeding, was rushed for a CT scan of his brain and admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit. The fall, Mr. DeVries's family contends, directly caused or contributed to his death on April 13.

In the lawsuit, the DeVries family accuses St. Joseph's of lacking "appropriate facilities and equipment" to operate on heavyset patients, including wide enough tables and adequately sized restraining straps to accommodate Mr. DeVries, who was 5'5'' tall and weighed 330 pounds. Hospital personnel allegedly told the family that the Velcro straps they used weren't strong enough to hold Mr. DeVries.

A St. Joseph's Hospital spokeswoman says patient privacy laws prevent her from commenting about the case, but the hospital conducts thorough internal investigations whenever patient safety concerns arise.

Daniel Cook

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