Saturday, December 10, 2022

December 10, 1998: FPA Screws Up Anesthesia Again

Nakia "Kia" Jorden would have graduated from Hyde Park High School in 2000. Instead on December 10, 1998, she died of anesthesia complications during an abortion at the Albany Medical Surgical Center at 5086 North Elston Avenue in Chicago.
 
She left as her survivors her parents and sisters. They filed suit against Albany, Family Planning Associates Medical Group, abortionist Steve Lichtenberg, and nurse anesthetist Lawrence Hill. FPA is a member of the prestigious National Abortion Federation.
 
According to an expert in anesthesia who reviewed Nakia's records, Nakia was obese, had a history of bronchitis, had some upper airway congestion, and had a pulse ox reading of only 94% when she was sedated for her abortion. The records from Albany indicate that "deep sedation if not general anesthesia was used," but Nakia was not given oxygen, and was not monitored by EKG as appropriate when administering this degree of anesthesia to an obese patient. There was no note of any proper method of monitoring Nakia while she was under sedation. Although she was intubated for anesthesia, there was no documentation that anybody verified proper placement of the endotracheal tube. Hill documented using only Brevital, but Lichtenberg noted administration of both Brevital and Stadol.
 
The greatest fault that the anesthesia expert found was that Hill, upon noting a pulse ox reading of only 74% -- clearly showing that Nakia was not getting nearly enough oxygen -- he did nothing to ensure that she was in fact getting enough oxygen into her lungs. Instead, he administered atropine to increase her heart rate, "which likely delayed the critical intervention of ventilating the patient with oxygen." 

Other abortion patients who have lost their lives after entrusting them to FPA include (*indicates another anesthesia-related death):

CRNA Lawrence Hill was also faulted for his fatal lack of care in the deaths of Antonesha Ross in 2009.

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