Just because Sybil and I are out frolicking in the South Pacific, couldn't leave you guys hanging. So while I'm gone let's do what the syndicated radio shows do. Yeah, a little "best of ..."
I'll post some of my favorite stories from the past and before you know it I'll be back live and in living color with tales from abroad.
Thanks again for your patronage, your patience and your understanding of my honeymoon sabbatical.
By Richie Whitt
Dallas Observer
March 4, 2010
Having survived diabetes, a lower leg
amputation, a hernia, kidney transplant and eight years in the National
Football League, this is merely a trifle on Ron Springs’
medical odyssey.
Simple surgery to remove a quarter-sized, sebaceous,
benign cyst from his left forearm? Just another mundane errand on life’s to-do
list.
“Don’t worry,” Springs tells his wife,
Adriane, on the afternoon of Oct.
12, 2007, “we’ll be home in time for dinner.”
And with that, at approximately 4 p.m., Springs is wheeled into a Medical City of Dallas’ Building A, third-floor operating
suite. Springs waits patiently in room No. 14 until he is greeted around 4:15 by plastic surgeon Dr. David
Godat.
“How ‘bout Stanford beating USC?” the doctor
offers on last weekend’s major college football upset. “Crazy.”
As Godat leaves for a short break in his
office before the scheduled 5 p.m.
procedure, Springs contemplates his pickle. He’s not exactly nervous, but
pensive. Anxious, even.
The problem area is more of a chronic,
necrotic wound – a by-product of diabetes – that’s been bugging him for months.
About an inch deep, it resides near Springs’ elbow, constantly irritating and
itching and sometimes secreting a thick, yellow, fungal discharge. It’s as
pesky as it is gross, but it’s about to be scraped to smithereens.
Springs, whose hands and arms have curled
into almost useless claws as a result of diabetes, seeks relief from a
contractures specialist, but Dallas’ Dr. Bo Frederick refuses to perform the
surgery until the potentially infectious spot is permanently removed. Eight
days ago Springs consulted Medical
City wound care
specialist Dr. Laurie Aten, who referred him to Dr. Godat.
The cyst was almost debrided twice in the
last week (once in Dr. Aten’s office and once in Dr. Godat’s), but on both
occasions Springs was unable to tolerate the pain despite Dr. Godat
administering a local anesthesia to the arm. Surgery is the last resort.
At 4:20
Dr. Joyce Abraham of the Texas Anesthesia Group arrives. She called Springs’ Plano home last night,
but since the couple was out to dinner at Luby’s she merely left a message
about today’s proceedings. She elects general anesthesia and prepares to induce
Springs via LMA (Laryngeal Mask Anesthesia).
Easing Springs’ mind is the fact that Dr.
Abraham and Dr. Godat have worked together in concert approximately 25 times
over the last three-plus weeks. His transplant and amputation surgeries were
performed without hiccup at Medical
City. And besides, he is
one of the hospital’s poster boys – a former Dallas Cowboys’ hero and a nationally lauded
recipient of the first kidney to change bodies from professional teammates,
donated by former Cowboy and close friend Everson Walls.
What could possibly go wrong?
At 4:37
Dr. Abraham places an IV in Springs’ neck, prepares a knockout cocktail of
Propofol, Lidocaine and Fentanyl, and commences anesthesia …
The cruel irony to this all-time
feel-good-to-fucked-up story:
Springs’ left kidney works just fine.
But instead of trumpeting the courage and
generosity of Walls, watching his son, Shawn, play in the NFL, touring the
country spreading the miracles made possible by organ donors or possibly
preparing to perform the coin toss at next year’s Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys
Stadium, he lies in a vegetative state in a private room of Medical City’s
intensive care unit.
Since the pre-surgery that cheated him out
of precious oxygen to his brain and left him in a coma, Springs’ life – or lack
thereof – has been a perpetual Groundhog Day. For the last 900 or so nights he
goes to sleep, but the next morning he never wakes up.
“It just breaks my heart,” says Walls, who
made national headlines when he gave his kidney to Springs three years ago.
“This was supposed to be an inspirational story. It was supposed to be a
landmark victory for organ donors. And it still should be … the surgery was a
success. The kidney is doing great. But when I bring up Ron’s name these days,
some people are like ‘Oh, I thought he was dead’.”
Springs isn’t dead. But whether he’s a body
lacking a vacated soul or a spirit muted by a broken vessel, he’s certainly not
living.
(continued from page 1)
While attorneys representing Springs and
Adriane prepare to take their medical malpractice case against Dr. Abraham, Dr.
Godat and Medical City of Dallas to trial this August via Cause No. 08-00671 in
Judge Mary Murphy’s 14th judicial district state court, he teases
friends and family with hints of relative improvement but offering no concrete
hope that he’ll ever leave the hospital.
Kept alive via intravenous feeding tubes, Springs,
now 53, remains essentially non-responsive, unable to voluntarily react,
recognize or communicate. He flirts with recovery: Breathing on his own (an
unobstructed airway via tracheostomy is in place, just in case). Sitting up in
a chair for as much as five hours a day. His blood work is clean, normal. His
skin exhibits a deep, healthy glow. Coughing. Yawning. Flinching. Opening his
eyes. And recently he did something he hadn’t since the dawn of the coma – he
sneezed.
“He’s been in there for so long you expect
him to be on his death bed, but you’d be amazed at how good he looks,” says
Walls. “Except for being in a coma, he’s a healthy dude. He opens his eyes and
looks at you. He hears you. He feels you. You look for the small things. Small
celebrations you hope turn into bigger things down the road. It keeps you from
being disheartened, being bleak without hope.”
In an exclusive interview with the Dallas
Observer in mid-January in attorney Les Weisbrod’s north Dallas office,
Adriane talks of anger, support and, yes, unyielding faith. After her job as an
investigator for The Department of Health and Human Services and her
responsibilities with the Walls/Springs’ Gift For Life Foundation, she visits
her husband every night between 5-7
p.m. and most weekends. Springs also receives pop-ins from Shawn, a
cornerback with the New England Patriots, and daughters Ayra and Ashley. But
it’s Adriane who holds his hand, reads him Bible scriptures and keeps him
packed and ready for the miracle, a task that includes brushing his teeth and
trying not to giggle when she accidentally pulls a nose hair, causing him to
flinch.
“I know he’s in there,” says Adriane. “I’m
hoping and praying there’s a light at the end of the tunnel because my husband
was supposed to be okay. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He’s showing more
brain activity and I think this is unchartered territory. I have faith that
I’ll get my Ron back.”
Oh yeah, and about the cancer. Not Ron’s,
mind you. Adriane’s.
(continued from page 2)
As if she didn’t have enough on her
problematic plate dealing with her husband’s plight, just three months after
Ron’s catastrophic event Adriane was diagnosed with breast cancer. After chemo
treatments, radiation and two surgeries, including a left breast mastectomy,
she still awaits another reconstruction procedure.
“I lost my breast, hair and strength during
that time, but not my spirit,” Adriane says. “You see, I know that God healed
me and he will heal Ron as well. No matter what the doctors may say.”
Of course there is hope, but is it merely a
carrot of a mirage in a sterile, arid desert where desires drown out realities
in the name of sanity?
Recently a man in Belgium was found to be “awake and
conscious” – merely unable to communicate –through 23 years misdiagnosed in a
coma. And last week the New England Journal of Medicine released results
of a study in which doctors found almost 10 percent (five in 54) of patients in
a vegetative state to be able to respond to yes-or-no questions with the exact
brain activity of an alert, conscious person.
On most days, however, the optimism is
shrouded in grim grouchiness. Visitors such as former Cowboys teammates Tony
Dorsett, Roger Staubach, Robert Newhouse, Drew Pearson, Ed “Too Tall” Jones,
Rev. Jesse Jackson and international evangelist Richard Madison smile, nod and
say all the right things. But …
“I haven’t visited him in two months, and
I’m ashamed of that,” admits Walls. “I wish I was less selfish and it makes me
feel really guilty, but nobody likes hospitals in the first place and then to
see Ron like he is … it’s just depressing. I hate going up there.”
Though neither Adriane nor Springs’ family
has ever considered a pull-the-plug mercy killing, Springs’ microscopic quality
of life even dents the spirit of men who crafted legendary legacies through
improbable comebacks.
“I know there are cases where people
miraculously just snap out of it,” says Staubach, struggling to find the words.
“But … I can’t speak for Ron. Honestly, I wouldn’t want that type of existence.
I wouldn’t want to be kept in a coma. I was sitting there holding his hand one
day, kidding him about the time against the Redskins when we had a play
designed for him to throw me a pass but he panicked instead and threw it in the
end zone toward Tony Hill. His eyes blinked. I’m not sure what that means, if
anything.”
According to Springs’ current critical care
physician and neurologist, recent increases in EEG brain activity are subtle,
if not meaningless and a full recovery remains highly unlikely.
“I truly believe it will happen. Ron’s going
to get out of that hospital,” says Walls. “I just get frustrated because it’s
not on any of our timetables. I think all of us close to him go through
impatience, guilt and a lot of anger, too. None of this had to happen.”
While the Walls-Springs kidney transplant
has deteriorated from this generation’s Brian’s Song into a medical
mystery and a sad saga, the legal teams are preparing for a trial that will
hinge on Flaws vs. Fate.
Was, as Weisbrod contends, Dr. Godat an
abusive alcoholic who tip-toed in and out of probation during his residency and
lied his way to accreditation from the Texas Board of Medical Examiners and Dr.
Abraham an inexperienced, incompetent anesthesiologist who made life-altering
rookie mistakes? Or, as Dr. Abraham’s attorney, Bill Chamblee, counters, was
Springs’ case merely one of bad luck and worse timing?
“This was just one of those sad, unforeseen
cases where the one percent risk in surgeries makes itself present,” says
Chamblee. “While I agree that Mr. Springs would be alive today had he not had
the surgery, there are some questions we want answered that are simply
unanswerable.”
Says Weisbrod, “The defendants want to drag
this thing out because it will become a lot less expensive for all their
insurance companies if Ron just passes away. Well, guess what? Ron Springs
isn’t going to die. He’s fighting and we’re going to fight for him.”
(continued from page 3)
“This whole thing was handled with a
reckless and heedless disregard for a human life.” – Adriane Springs’ attorney, Les Weisbrod.
While Drs. Godat and Abraham were chance
partners with blemishes in their background, Walls and Springs were not only
teammates, but Plano
neighbors, best friends, godfathers to each other’s children and perfectly
compatible type O blood brothers.
Shame it’s headed ghastly, because the
Walls-Springs relationship was mostly goose-bumpy.
Walls, a free-agent cornerback raised in Dallas’ Hamilton Park
neighborhood but schooled at Richardson
Berkner High
School, and Springs, a pass-catching running back
out of Ohio State, became friends playing for the
Cowboys in the early '80s. They each had their successes, with Walls leading
the NFL in interceptions three times and Springs leading the Cowboys in
touchdowns (12) in ’81 and receptions (73) in ’83. With both retired, Springs in
’90 was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a disease that forced the amputation of
his lower right leg and a couple of toes, withered his hands and ransacked his
kidneys into dialysis three times a week. When Walls rescued him (no one in
Springs family was a suitable match) off a four-year wait on the national
transplant list, it made ESPN SportsCenter and was prominently featured
during CBS’ coverage of Super Bowl XLI.
Walls was a hero; Springs a celebrity.
“It’s bittersweet,” admits Walls. “When I
look back at all the tapes from those moments – magical moments – there we are,
standing up in front of the big Medical
City banners. Now Ron’s
back in here.”
The successful surgery drastically improved Springs’
quality of life. He got off dialysis. His ashen skin flushed back normal. He
began physical therapy to improve his posture, regain use of his hands and
eventually leave his wheelchair with a prosthetic leg.
The two christened their own Gift For Life
charitable foundation, began public speaking on the benefits of organ donation
and on Sept. 9, 2007
were honored as Cowboys’ co-captains at the season-opening game against the New
York Giants at Texas Stadium.
“I thank all the people in Dallas and around the country for their
prayers,” Springs told the sellout crowd that night. “They don't have to worry
about Ron Springs giving up.”
They did, turns out, have to worry about Ron Springs
waking up.
(continued from page 4)
“I don’t hope he’s alive in there, I know
he’s alive. If he hears a voice he sort of cocks his head and if I drop
something he jumps. He’s in there.” –
Ron Springs’ wife, Adriane.
According to Springs’ attorneys, Dr. Godat
is an alcoholic who physically abused his ex-wife, is habitually disorganized
and late, was placed on probation three times during his residency and forced
to see a psychiatrist, lied to get his license in Texas and runs an office with low morale and
high turnover.
“I wouldn’t want him touching anyone in my
family with a 10-foot pole, much less surgical instruments,” says Weisbrod.
“It’s our conclusion that he’s a bad guy who cared more about himself than Ron Springs.
His privileges should be taken away and he shouldn’t be allowed to practice
anything, anywhere, anytime.”
Attempted character assassinations be
damned, Dr. Godat’s counsel retorts that none of the allegations are true, much
less relevant.
“Dr. Godat provided care in a logical and
caring manner,” says attorney Charlie Bell. “We don’t think he has any
liability in the case.”
The middle of three brothers, Dr. Godat
attended Stanford
University and then dropped
out of Baylor Medical School
in Dallas
before graduating from UT Southwestern-Dallas and serving a six-year residency
in plastic surgery at Milwaukee’s
Greater Memorial Hospital. Back in Dallas
he opened an office next to brother, Mark, at Medical City
but in 2006 endured a bitter divorce from wife, Monica.
In a Nov. 20, 2006 deposition, Dr. Monica Godat
testified that David repeatedly left her stranded in her car without keys,
physically abused her by grabbing her neck, throwing her on the ground and
slapping her repeatedly, and intentionally lied about his multiple probations
while in Milwaukee
to the Texas Medical Licensing Board. According to Monica, Medical City
knew of David’s difficulty in attaining his license, yet paid the doctor
$20,000 a month while he took a vacation to Europe,
Canada
and South America.
Monica alleges their seven-year marriage
ended when she witnessed her husband “making out” with his office employee,
Tina Rios, at Fahdi’s Mediterranean Restaurant on Knox-Henderson.
“He was wearing a red shirt,” Monica
testified. “The one my parents gave to him as a present.”
Says Bell,
“Dr. Godat does not have a drinking problem. And Mr. Weisbrod’s allegations of
abuse are unfounded and untrue. He did go through a contentious divorce, but
none of this has anything to do with the Ron Springs
case whatsoever.”
Dr. Godat’s involvement with Springs’ epic
event was his indirect hiring of Dr. Abraham.
“Dr. Godat had underlying issues that
prevented him from properly communicating with his health care team,” says
Weisbrod. “Furthermore, he should have been there in the operating room to stop
Dr. Abraham from doing what she did to Mr. Springs.”
During her third week of residency at the
University of Texas Medical School at Houston Dr. Abraham was involved in a
difficult intubation of patient Terri Rogers, who suffered a perforated
esophagus and in December 2006 field a lawsuit. During her interview or hiring
by Fort Worth-based Texas Anesthesia Group on September 17, 2007, Dr. Abraham admits she
never mentioned the still-pending lawsuit.
“When I applied for credentialing, it was
probably on my credentialing form,” Dr. Abraham testified in her deposition
taken August 4, 2008.
Though she’d worked with Dr. Godat in her
first month on the job, it was a pure scheduling happenstance that she was
assigned to the Springs surgery. Dr. Godat employee Amy called TAG’s office
scheduler Lindy (he used TAG on the advice of his brother) and Abraham’s name
merely came up in the rotation.
In his videotaped deposition taken July 25, 2008, Godat –
dressed in a suit and swigging a Dr Pepper between seemingly nervous swivels of
his chair – outlined his routine pre-op procedure thusly:
“I didn’t choose Dr. Abraham,” Dr. Godat
said. When asked who did, he responded, “I don’t know.”
Did you obtain the previous records of Mr.
Springs’ hernia or kidney surgery? “No.”
Did you make an effort to speak with the
surgeons who were involved in Mr. Springs’ previous surgeries? “No.”
Were you aware that Mr. Springs had a
history of difficult intubations? “No.”
Did you talk beforehand to the
anesthesiologist? “No.”
Do you routinely offer your patients a
choice of anesthesiologist? “No.”
“He was a charismatic person and we just got
along very well,” Dr. Godat said of Springs. “I do remember him saying that he
just wanted to be put to sleep.”
(continued from page 5)
“Mr. Springs’ unfortunate and unforeseen
complication is not related in any regard to Dr. Abraham providing care in a
negligent fashion.” – Dr. Joyce Abraham’s
attorney, Bill Chamblee.
Though Chamblee maintains that every
anesthesiologist – through no fault of their own – will eventually be faced
with a patient producing unpredictable, devastating, natural results similar to
Springs, the event and subsequent stagnation of the popular patient’s life and
work have paused friends and family.
Staubach, for example, is putting off back
surgery to correct spinal stenosis because – as was Springs’ – it’s an elective
surgery.
“It just reminds you that the most important
person in surgery isn’t the doctor,” Staubach says, “it’s the anesthesiologist.
I know every day there are millions of people put under and brought back
successfully. But you look at Ron and just makes you think, ‘You know what,
maybe I’ll just take another Advil and deal with it’.”
And when a supposedly simple surgery leaves
a high-profile patient a vegetable and the lead physician testifies to stuff
like “I wasn’t there at the time and I … I don’t know exactly what happened”,
you can bet the procedure will be thoroughly examined and cross-examined.
Dr. Godat said he was talking on his cell
phone and walking toward the operating room when he received another call
alerting him that Springs was ready for surgery. He said in his deposition that
he was initially talking to his brother, though, curiously, Mark testified that
he doesn’t recall the landmark moment.
“I don’t … I don’t remember,” Mark said in
his deposition on Jan. 4,
2010. “I don’t remember if I was on the phone to him. I don’t even
know when the Ron
Springs thing happened.
Maybe two or three years ago? Honest, I have no idea.”
Weisbrod and Adriane aren’t buying Godat’s
excused absence.
“I don’t think he was on the phone with his
brother,” the attorney says. “I think he ducked out of the operating suite for
some personal issue. Drinking? A woman? Just general disorganization? I don’t
know. But I do know that he should’ve been there.”
Answered Bell, “It was not inappropriate for Dr. Godat
not to be present when anesthesia started. He was, in fact, on campus but
unaware that it had even started. By the time he walked in a code for Mr.
Springs was in progress.”
What Dr. Godat missed, in layman’s terms,
was Springs suffering from unpredictable, uncontrollable throat spasms that
closed his airway while under anesthesia. By the time Dr. Abraham and emergency
help re-established the passage, he went anywhere from 2-4 minutes without
oxygen to his brain and suffered catastrophic damage.
While the Springs’ camp is critical of Dr.
Abraham’s inexperience and lack of research into his medical history before the
surgery, her attorney backs her actions as “wholly appropriate.” Both sides
agree, however, that Dr. Abraham did not discuss the type of anesthesia to be
used on Springs with Dr. Godat or the patient, did not check his past surgical
history (two operations were performed at Medical City), did not know the
source, severity or size of the wound to be removed, or didn’t even know that
her patient was a transplant recipient, diabetic or former football player
(ironically, her Facebook page states that she is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys).
“Everything I did that day was appropriate,”
Dr. Abraham said in her deposition. “I wouldn’t have changed approach or
medicines.”
Chamblee, whose brother (former PGA Tour
golfer Brandel) lost his son to natural causes at nine days old, says his
client was well-trained, responsible and accurate in her care.
Says Chamblee, “To call Dr. Abraham
inexperienced is just ridiculous.”
Walls, however, can’t hide his contempt for
the doctor who essentially buried his friend alive.
“There was a level of incompetence that
turned into a perfect storm that day,” he says. “Dr. Abraham just ran roughshod
over the process. From the first step everything she did was unnecessary and
the way she did it was just disrespectful to all Ron and I went through and
what we meant to donors and diabetes and his legacy as a person. He was a
beacon of hope for millions of people, and she just ignored that. You’d think
his story might at least get her curious, but she’s just so callous. But her
ignorance is her ignorance, another question is why in the world would Dr.
Godat trust Ron to her? Why use her, of all people? Every time I talk about her
I get mad all over.”
Less than a month after Springs nosedived
into his coma, his family consented to Dr. Godat finally removing the cyst. The
operation went smoothly. Springs didn’t need anesthesia.
“Things happen,” said Dr. Abraham. “It
happened under my care, yes. What happened that day … it happened. A good
outcome doesn’t always come out of everything … even when you act
appropriately.”
(continued from page 6)
“He is a recovering alcoholic.” – Dr.
David Godat’s ex-wife, Monica.
While Springs lays and stares and sits and
flinches and once in a while sneezes – then endlessly repeats the hollow process – his attending physicians
are still practicing. Often in Dallas.
Godat and Abraham even worked together in surgery at Medical City
after the Springs case.
But recently, according to Chamblee, Dr.
Abraham’s career has been significantly and negatively impacted by the stigma
attached to her involvement with Springs. “It’s been a devastating event for
her,” he says.
And although Dr. Godat still has his
privileges at several area hospitals including Forest Park Medical
Center in Dallas, Centennial Hospital
in Frisco and Texas
Specialty Hospital
in Mesquite, he
resigned his practice at Medical
City last July.
“He told me he chose to resign,” said Mark
Godat of his brother, who still occasionally performs out-patient procedures
like breast augmentation at Medical
City’s ambulatory center.
“Said he was tired of getting hassled all the time.”
Asked if Dr. Godat’s departure was related
to the Springs case, Bell
responded “Absolutely not.”
The change of address doesn’t totally get
Dr. Godat off the hook. He’s still being sued – along with TAG, Hospital Corp
of America,
HCA Health Services of Texas, Columbia North Texas Subsidiary GP LLC, Columbia Hospital at Medical City Dallas Subsidiary
L.P. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas – by the Springs family.
“I look forward to all of them being forced
to take responsibility for how they dealt with this situation,” says Adriane.
“I don’t want it happening to someone else because it’s devastating. Every
single day. Just because all the attention is gone … the pain is still here.
They were careless, and they trapped my husband in darkness and silence. There
needs to be consequences.”
Adriane is also part of two other ongoing
lawsuits, a case in East Texas (aimed at
challenging the state’s controversial $250,000 cap for non-economic (pain and
suffering) damages awarded to victims in malpractice cases) and a federal class
action suit filed in San Francisco
(seeking compensation for all patients who underwent MRIs using an allegedly
harmful form of dye.) In depositions connected with the latter, Adriane
testified that her husband was rendered disabled and debilitated by a condition
called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis.
“So in one courtroom Mr. Springs was totally
debilitated yet in another he was pretty healthy?” says Chamblee. “She very
well may have to explain those inconsistencies to the jury.”
Asked what effect the San Francisco case would have on the Godat
case Weisbrod responded, “None at all.”
Springs’ legal battle in Dallas is off to a slow start to say the
least.
Because of a paperwork filing
misunderstanding the original claim against Medical City
was thrown out, forcing Springs to now sue the hospital’s nurses and physicians
individually instead of collectively. More importantly, the Texas Medical Board
conducted an investigation of the case and unequivocally absolved Drs. Godat
and Abraham and Medical
City of any wrongdoing or
responsibility.
In a report released early in 2009, the TMD
states that Dr. Godat provided care “in a logical, caring manner” and added
that “a rare but devastating complication ensued, which is always tragic, but
the standard of care was not violated.”
Adds Chamblee, “All complaints were dismissed,
without so much as a formal hearing. It was a horribly sad event, but there
isn’t anything to suggest there was anything wrong with Dr. Abraham’s actions.”
Weisbrod says he hasn’t seen the results of
the report but “heard a rumor to that effect.” While the teams of lawyers
prepare to play hot potato with Springs’ astronomical, soaring medical bills,
the patient’s family remains undaunted in its legal pursuit.
Says Weisbrod, “We need to bring to light
some of the things about these doctors that Mrs. Springs wishes she would’ve
known then and that the public deserves to know now.”
(continued from page 7)
“I know that miracles do happen and we’ll
continue to hope and pray for the best, but it just breaks your heart to see
such a great guy in such a bad state.”
– Former Springs teammate, Roger Staubach.
No debating what happened to Springs. But,
ultimately, who did it?
Dr. Abraham?
“She was an inexperienced doctor who made
rookie mistakes,” says Weisbrod. “And they cost Ron permanent brain injury.”
No one?
“It’s unfortunate, but nobody’s
responsible,” says Chamblee. “Like humans and doctors, medicine isn’t perfect.
Every day in this country dozens of folks die because of unforeseen
circumstances in elective surgery. Even with our advances, we still cannot
perform procedures risk-free and we won’t be able to do so in our lifetime.”
Dr. Godat?
“A normal, functioning doctor would’ve
communicated Ron’s situation clearly to his health care team,” Weisbrod
contends. “Dr. Godat not only failed to do that, he wasn’t even in the room
when the procedure started and ultimately failed.”
God?
“There’s a reason Ron’s gone through all
this,” says Adriane. “God has a purpose for him and it’s much bigger than lying
in that bed. He’s going to be whole again someday.”
Because Springs received his last request,
he likely won’t ever get to tell his side of the sad story.
“I remember what he said,” said Dr. Abraham,
recalling her patient’s repeated pre-op desire. “He just wanted to be put to
sleep.”
(continued from page 8)
… With Springs comfortably “under”, Dr.
Abraham attempts to attach the LMA over his nose and mouth and down his throat
at 4:46. Unsuccessful at
sliding the LMA’s short endotracheal tube into her patient’s airway, she
manually forces oxygen into his lungs via positive pressure airway ventilation
(commonly referred to as “bagging.”) At 4:50
– after an increase of the drug relaxant Sevoflurene and a second failed
attempt with the LMA – Dr. Abraham tries again to bag air into Springs.
But this time she can’t depress the bag.
Something is blocking Springs’ airway. The worst nightmare: Laryngospasm.
Undetectable if not invisible, Springs’
airway is involuntarily contracting and constricting, to the point of slamming
shut his breathing passage. While alerting the scrub nurse on duty to call for
assistance, Dr. Abraham delivers through IV the muscle-relaxing drug Rocuronium
and Atropine, to combat Springs’ rapidly declining heart rate.
At 4:53
Dr. Abraham is strenuously attempting to force a longer, endotracheal tube down
Springs’ throat in a desperate effort to create an airway. By 4:54, help arrives in the form of 22-year
veteran anesthesiologist Dr. Quin Gerard. (By the time Godat appeared on the
scene his patient was being resuscitated.)
At 4:55
p.m. Drs. Abraham and Gerard are able to depress the bag, halting
the laryngospasm and creating an airway with a burst of oxygen. Springs is
sufficiently intubated, and by 5:03
Dr. Brian Gogel starts an emergency tracheotomy to secure an unobstructed airway.
Springs went without oxygen to his brain
from anywhere from 2-4 minutes (generally speaking, two minutes is considered a
safe time while four minutes is dangerously long). Initially convinced they
dodged a bullet, the doctors are startled when they administer medication to
bring Springs out of anesthesia, only to be confronted by him having high blood
pressure, a low heart rate, troublesome twitching and no signs of alertness.
It’s too late. The patient has suffered what
is almost assuredly irreparable brain damage.
Medical records from the case indicate that Ron Springs
was last awake and conscious on Oct. 12, 2007 at 4:45
p.m.
NOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
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