Patient Bleeds To Death After "Routine" Angiogram
A lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn alleges that doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital were negligent in their treatment of a 56 year old woman, Klara Geykhman. Geykhman was admitted to the hospital on January 26, 2007 for a routine angiogram and died 3 1/2 hours later from blood loss.
An angiogram is a test that uses a special x-ray camera and contrast dye to take pictures of the blood flow inside an artery, normally to look for a bulge or blockages. A thin tube, called a catheter, is commonly inserted into femoral vein or artery in the groin. The catheter is then guided through the body up to the area that the physician wishes to study. When the catheter reaches the area, a special iodine dye is injected to clearly show the area on an x-ray.
A known possible complication is possible damage to blood vessels as the catheter is threaded through a vein or artery. The tube can puncture the blood vessel,causing a drop in blood pressure and if left untreated, death from blood loss. When Ms. Geykhman was undergoing the procedure, she experienced dizziness and a drop in blood pressure and heart rate. Faced with these symptoms, which indicated a hemorrhage, doctors treated the symptoms as something else. After 3 1/2 hours, and the continuing worsening of her symptoms, Ms. Geykhman passed away. If the doctor's at the hospital performed a simple CT-scan, they would have been able to quickly identify the internal bleeding and save Ms. Geykhman's life.
When mistakes such as these lead to a patient's death, it usually turns out to be caused by a compounding of mistakes that lead to one bad decision after another. It doesn't matter what protocols a hospital has in effect; if they are not followed to the letter, people die. New York-Presbyterian Hospital has the reputation as one of the top hospitals in the country, a mistake of this magnitude cannot be allowed to happen in any hospital, let alone one with such stature. As residents of Staten Island, we have access to the best medical care in the country and expect that when we go into a hospital, we are going to come out. Remember, when you are receiving medical care, it is your right to question the doctor's on the treatment that you are receiving. As is all too clear, doctor's are not infallible and no procedure, especially one involving the heart, is routine.
