Oxygen catches fire in surgery and leaves patient with third-degree burns, lawsuit says
.jpg "A surgery patient was burned after oxygen caught on fire, a lawsuit says.")
A surgery patient left her procedure with second and third-degree burns covering her face and neck after a fire suddenly broke out in the room, a new lawsuit filed in New Jersey says.
While having tumors removed, the woman receiving oxygen through nasal tubing was burned when the oxygen caught on fire in March 2021 at a medical facility in northern New Jersey, according to a complaint filed Jan. 18 in Essex County Superior Court.
Now the woman, of Caldwell, is suing the New York Bariatric Group which she says ran the outpatient facility she was burned at in Glen Ridge, the complaint shows. The outpatient facility, the Glen Ridge SurgiCenter, a doctor and several nurses, who are not publicly identified, are also listed as defendants in the case.
The woman says those involved in her surgery acted “carelessly and incorrectly,” resulting in the fire and her burns, according to the complaint.
Megan DiGregorio, a New York Bariatric Group spokeswoman, told McClatchy News in a statement on Jan. 23 that the company “doesn’t comment on existing litigation” and that it “has never owned nor operated the Glen Ridge Surgi-Center despite the complaint’s statement to the contrary.”
The New York Bariatric Group’s website shows it has several offices in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, including one in Glen Ridge.
McClatchy News contacted the Glen Ridge SurgiCenter for comment on Jan. 23 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
The surgery procedure
On March 15, 2021, the patient, who is described as “elderly” in the lawsuit, says she went into surgery to have fatty tumors removed from her shoulder and neck at the New York Bariatric Group’s Glen Ridge facility, according to her complaint.
As the doctor and nurses were cauterizing her surgery wounds, the cauterizing device sparked, causing a “flash flame” that ignited the oxygen supply, the complaint says.
This caused the drapes surrounding the woman to catch on fire, severely burning her face and neck as a result, according to the complaint.
Now the lawsuit accuses the doctor leading the procedure of negligence and malpractice.
It argues he “failed to properly maintain and handle the cauterizing device” and “failed to dispense the appropriate amount of oxygen.”
The lawsuit also accuses the nurses and assistants involved in the procedure of malpractice and the New York Bariatric Group and the Glen Ridge SurgiCenter of negligence.
“The Defendants carelessly and incorrectly utilized the cauterizing device so that it caught fire; carelessly utilized the oxygen so that it caught fire; and carelessly permitted flammable materials to be near the cauterizing device,” the complaint states.
The Glen Ridge SurgiCenter’s state license is no longer active and expired in June 2022, according to NJ.com, which first reported on the lawsuit.
The woman is demanding a trial by jury and is seeking unspecified damages to be awarded and decided upon in court.
Glen Ridge is about 15 miles west of New York City.
This story was originally published January 23, 2023 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Oxygen catches fire in surgery and leaves patient with third-degree burns, lawsuit says."
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