ASHEVILLE - A wrongful death lawsuit against Mission Hospital alleges that the negligence of a nurse anesthetist resulted in the death of a patient after a surgery.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 21 in Buncombe County Superior Court by the estate of Noe Serrano Hernandez, targets HCA Healthcare, the for-profit corporation that owns Mission, in the death of Serrano Hernandez, who was treated at Mission on Sept. 13, 2024.
On Sept. 13, Serrano Hernandez underwent surgery at Mission to treat an ulcer on his left foot. During the surgery, Andrew Hunter, a nurse anesthetist, was assigned to monitor Serrano Hernandez, but he is alleged to have failed to do so and didn't immediately recognize that the patient's condition was worsening.
Hunter also allegedly failed
to take appropriate steps to maintain Serrano Hernandez's airway, breathing and oxygenation for the level of anesthesia and sedation being provided. The suit alleges he failed to communicate Serrano Hernandez's worsening condition to the surgeon, other staff, and supervising anesthesiologist, Dr. Jason Dziak.
Dziak is accused in the lawsuit of failing to properly supervise the anesthesia care provided to Serrano Hernandez and failing to intervene in a timely manner when Serrano Hernandez's condition deteriorated.
Approximately 51 minutes after anesthesia began, Serrano Hernandez suffered a cardiac arrest. While he was resuscitated, he was transferred to the intensive care unit, intubated, and he remained comatose and ventilator dependent until he died Sept. 21, according to the lawsuit.
Mission Hospital filed a complaint with the North Carolina Board of Nursing regarding Hunter's care of Serrano Hernandez, and the board investigated and found that Hunter's care and treatment of Serrano Hernandez fell below the minimum standard of practice.
The board found that because Serrano Hernandez had end-stage renal disease and other medical problems, he was categorized as a high-risk paranesthesia patient.
The board concluded that Hunter failed to react to Serrano's deteriorating physiologic status in an appropriate manner, that he failed to properly monitor and supervise the adequate ventilation for the level of sedation provided, and that he failed to communicate Serrano Hernandez's status with other medical staff, according to the lawsuit.
The board also concluded that Hunter was unfamiliar with the charter system and had difficulty charting at Mission, which indicated that Mission had allowed him to treat patients without proper training or knowledge of the procedures expected, according to the lawsuit.
The Board of Nursing found that Hunter violated a North Carolina law that authorizes discipline in situations where a nurse engages in conduct that "deceives, defrauds, or harms the public in the course of professional activities or services."
Hunter signed an order acknowledging that he had violated nursing standards and accepted a reprimand and additional training requirements, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names Andrew Hunter and Dr. Jason Dziak as defendants, in addition to Mission Hospital.
The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of damages and a jury trial.
Mission's parent company faces other major lawsuits. In late July, a judge ruled that most claims in Attorney General Jeff Jackson's lawsuit against Mission could proceed to trial. In April, a 2022 medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a Canton family against HCA Healthcare, Mission Health and an Asheville-area OB/GYN was settled.
A spokesperson from Mission Hospital did not respond to a request for comment.
Kara Fohner is the Public Safety Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email her at kfohner@usatodayco.com or call her at 980-241-8671.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Lawsuit claims nurse negligence led to Mission Hospital patient death
