The family of a man with sleep apnea who died during a routine colonoscopy is suing the nurse anesthetist who cared for the patient.

The plaintiffs allege that before his May 2009 colonoscopy at Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton, Ky., Charles Harold Curtis Jr. told his anesthesia provider, Leonard Hohlbein, CRNA, that he had sleep apnea and needed to use a continuous positive airway pressure machine while sleeping. Mr. Hohlbein allegedly looked at Mr. Curtis' neck, said it looked normal and administered a reduced dose of propofol with a nasal cannula. When the patient's condition "deteriorated," the anesthesia provider tried to intubate the patient but couldn't manage, according to court documents filed in April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

Although Mr. Hohlbein opened the airway with a cricothyroidotomy and performed CPR for 45 minutes, Mr. Curtis died about an hour after the colonoscopy had begun. The biopsy results of the polyps found during the procedure were not malignant, according to court documents.

In the complaint, Mr. Curtis' family says that because of his sleep apnea and history of difficult intubations during other surgeries, Mr. Hohlbein should have been supervised by an anesthesiologist and should not have used propofol. "Hohlbein should have considered and used alternative methods for Mr. Curtis' sedation," says the complaint. The family is suing for an undisclosed amount.

In court documents filed this week, Mr. Hohlbein and the hospital deny that they were negligent in caring for Mr. Curtis. Mr. Hohlbein's attorney did not return a request for comment. The family's attorney was out of the country and not available to comment.

The Curtis family has asked the court for a jury trial. No date has been set.

Kent Steinriede

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