Rekhaben Shah (in photo) stopped breathing during a colonoscopy at a surgery center.Oak Tree Surgery Center in Edison,
New Jersey, for a simple colonos-
copy. After receiving the standard
anesthetic, she stopped breathing.
The anesthesiologist, Yoori Yim, MD,
later testified that she came up empty-
handed when she tried to find the
right-sized airway tube for Shah, ac-
cording to an ongoing lawsuit.
Dr. Yim tried a variety of methods to
help Shah breathe, with limited suc-
cess. Paramedics responding to the
center’s 911 call ultimately had to use a
video GlideScope, equipment the sur-
gery center didn’t have, to see inside
Shah’s throat, according to court testi-
mony. What’s more, paramedics testi-
fied that Dr. Yim refused to move away
from Shah and allow them to attemptlifesaving measures. An expert for the
surgery center said Shah’s airway was
obstructed and was cleared around
the time the paramedics arrived. He
said the GlideScope is not required in
New Jersey, nor would it likely have
made a difference. Shah’s family has
settled its lawsuit against the center—
which denied wrongdoing—under
confidential terms.
An expert for Dr. Yim, however, said
that her actions were appropriate and
if a GlideScope had been at the cen-
ter, “we would probably not be dis-
cussing this case at all.” Instead, from
the moment Shah stopped breathing
on the operating table, 33 minutes
passed before a paramedic effectively
inserted a breathing tube, according110 february 2019
amy newman/north jersey media group/usa today networkReader’s Digest