Anesthesia death from 2002

Mi Young Kim had lost her privileges at Fairfax Hospital in 1999, and voluntarily surrendered her license in the state of New York in 2000. But despite that, Kim is listed as practicing at NOVA Healthcare in Fairfax, Virginia. She had at one point accidentally started an abortion on a 26.5-weeks-pregnant woman in her office on May 17, 1997, when she'd originally thought the patient was only 8 weeks pregnant.

Another patient wasn't as fortunate as that patient. A woman identified as "Patient A" (I'll call her "Adelle"), was 26 years old and had a history of anemia and sickle cell disease. Kim did not order proper lab studies, document an appropriate history, or perform a proper exam on Adelle before performing an abortion on her on November 16, 2002. Kim administered 25 mg of Versed to Adelle, in response to her reports of pain, over a 10-minute period, without giving the medicine time to take effect.

Kim told the medical board that she didn't give Adelle any analgesia for pain because she gives enough Versed to cause amnesia so that the patient can't remember the pain. The board noted that Kim lacked judgment and knowledge of intravenous conscious sedation and that she was not fit to supervise a CRNA.

At the end of the abortion, Kim noted that Adelle's pulse oximeter reading was only 70%, an alarming finding. Kim thought she found a pulse, didn't assess whether or not Adelle was breathing, and simply ordered her staff to give Adelle oxygen by mask and call 911.

Kim administered Romazicon to reverse the effects of the Versed, but did not notice that Adelle had gone into cardiac arrest. As such, Kim made no effort to resuscitate her. The ambulance crew arrived and transported Adelle to the hospital, where she was declared dead from possible air embolism.

The medical board noted that Kim was not certified in Advanced Cardiopulmonary Life Support, nor was she or anybody else on her staff qualified to perform an intubation or use crash cart equipment. Kim did not document the operative report for Adelle. Kim told the board that the police had told her not to make any further notes in her file.

The board did not suspend or yank Kim's license, instead noting that she was making improvements in her quality of care. She was instead placed under stipulations regarding her use of anesthesia in her office and her record-keeping.

Kim called her office "Landmark Women's Center", giving the impression that it was a clinic.

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