Attorneys successfully defened at trial, a large hospital and an employed C

Attorneys successfully defened at trial, a large hospital and an employed C.R.N.A. The two week trial involved the death, after 8 months of conscious pain and suffering, of an otherwise healthy, recently married, 48 year-old consecrated Bishop. He came to hospital with an unruptured appendicitis, had an uneventful induction of anesthesia and had tolerated the laparoscopic, converted to open, procedure without surgical complication. But, upon extubation, he suffered a laryngospasm, (incidence 0.1%), immediately followed by negative pressure pulmonary edema (from trying to breathe in against a closed glottis), which, despite respiratory support, developed into full-blow ARDS because the alveoli were irreparably damaged. He was placed on ECMO and transferred to another hospital, (not a defendant), where he developed multi-system organ failure, was eventually transferred to a ventilator-dependent nursing facility where he died on Thanksgiving Day after being told by family it was OK to let go. It turned out that the extubation had been performed by a Student Nurse Anesthetist (listed only as a "visitor" on the record). The claims were that the extubation was premature, and the reintubation was too late. The anesthesiologist and pulmonary/critical care specialist were co-defendants. Challenges in the case were proving that a trial of non-invasive ventilatory support (BiPap) was within the standard of care, and was not permitted to go too long despite a worsening of blood gas. There were 15-20 family members in court every day, all dressed in black suits and dresses. The jury saw a movie of the exchange of wedding vows where the Bishop told his bride, "The best is yet to come," followed immediately by a movie of him paralyzed and grunting and crying, on a ventilator. The jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants in a little over two hours. This was our firm's first trial fo rhospital.