TRAGIC OUTCOME Katherine O'Donnell died within hours after undergoing sinus surgery at North Haven (Conn.) Surgery Center.

Did an anesthesiologist at a Connecticut surgery center fail to respond properly to a respiratory and cardiac emergency — ultimately costing a healthy 29-year-old woman who'd just undergone routine sinus surgery her life? And are freestanding surgical centers equipped to handle emergencies? Those are the questions raised in a recent wrongful death suit.

Katherine O'Donnell died in February of 2015, just hours after being given general anesthesia at the North Haven (Conn.) Surgery Center. Documentation regarding the events that preceded her death appears inconsistent, providing a backdrop for a lawsuit filed by the woman's father, John O'Donnell, which targets the center, anesthesiologist Barry Stein, MD, and Fairfield (Conn.) Anesthesia Associates, for whom Dr. Stein is a managing partner.

Among the events at issue are how quickly a code was initiated, when the surgery was stopped and when the surgical team called for emergency help.

According to the complaint, Ms. O'Donnell, who was having sinus surgery, was sedated at 10:51 a.m. and intubated after 2 failed attempts to place an LMA. At 11:05 her blood pressure had fallen to 75/60.

There are numerous discrepancies as to what happened in the ensuing minutes. According to the suit, the "anesthesia record" says sevoflurane and nitrous oxide were stopped at 11:05, but the "anesthesia note" says they continued until 11:15. Meanwhile, the surgery, which was performed by Craig S. Hecht, MD, who is not named in the suit, began at 11:07. At 11:11, Ms. O'Donnell's blood pressure was "unobtainable," and the pulse oximeter "was not reading," according to records. She was given epinephrine, and at 11:14 her blood pressure was recorded as 60/40, but the pulse oximeter still wasn't reading.

According to the suit: A "code sheet" says surgery was stopped at 11:22, but that it resumed at 11:30. However, an anesthesia note says that at 11:18, CPR efforts were begun and emergency services was called. But American Medical Response records say the call for help wasn't received until 11:40. State investigators later determined that CPR efforts began at 11:35 and continued until EMS arrived at 11:52.

Ms. O'Donnell was eventually transferred to Yale New Haven Hospital, arriving at 12:22, and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The suit accuses the defendants of, among other allegations, failing to "adequately and properly diagnose, care for, treat, monitor and supervise" Ms. O'Donnell, failing to properly respond to the medical emergency and failing to keep proper records. The center, it alleges, was "not fully equipped to diagnose and treat such an emergency" and "had no transportation of its own immediately available in the event of an emergency" that required transfer to a hospital.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health, which investigated the incident, found that "the standard of care was met" for anesthesia and surgical services, says the New Haven Register, but the agency cited the center for 2 minor violations related to documentation.

Sally Hagerty, who is representing Dr. Stein and Fairfield Anesthesia, did not return a phone call. North Haven Surgery Center administrator Susan Bojka referred inquiries to lawyer Thomas Anderson, who also did not return a phone call. However, the family's attorney, Josh Koskoff, was quoted in the Connecticut Post as saying, "We're really in a dawn age with these surgery centers, and they really need to get their act together. They're fine when nothing goes wrong, but they don't have those added layers of protection that hospitals do in case of complications."

Jim Burger