Arkansas

Dialyn Powers
Jonesboro, AR

Dialyn went to the hospital for a hysterectomy. During a normal pre-operative procedure, a nurse-anesthetist taped her eyes closed, used a drug to temporarily paralyze her, and intubated her. The N.A. forgot to turn on the anesthesia which would have rendered Dialyn unconscious and unable to feel the pain. When he realized he had forgotten, he turned on the gases, gave Dialyn a shot of narcotics and another drug that was meant to give her amnesia. The N.A. did not tell the surgeon what he had done and allowed the surgery to proceed without Dialyn being properly anesthetized. Dialyn was awake when her surgeon was in the process of cutting her open. She remained awake and feeling the surgery for 12-35 minutes. She now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder

Juanita Edwards
Paragould, AR

Juanita Edwards was suffering chest pains. She underwent a diagnostic cardiac catheterization in October 1997 at a rural hospital in Paragould, Ark. The test was conducted by a mobile catheterization lab operated by MedCath Inc.. During the procedure, MedCath's employees failed to purge the air from the lines or the syringe, causing a big bubble of air to be injected into Ms. Edwards' heart. This air went from her heart to her brain and caused a stroke. Ms. Edwards was rendered a quadriplegic, with some limited ability to move her right hand and arm.

August 2004