The anesthesiologist’s suspicion of a fatal lidocaine overdose was confirmed by the autopsy. She anticipated that a lawsuit would be filed. She wanted to demonstrate how this mistake happened. She took multiple pictures of the operating room where the incident happened, the cabinet, and the bags of medication. They would ultimately end up being included as exhibits in the lawsuit.
This is a view of the cabinet, positioned in the corner of the operating room.
The front of the cabinet lists the contents as sevoflurane and a laryngojet.
The inside contents of the cabinet. The bags of Hespan and lidocaine were positioned on the left of the top cabinet. She had removed them for this picture.
This picture shows the medication bags as they were arranged during the surgery, when the anesthesiologist reached up to grab one.
The final picture shows the lidocaine and Hespan side-by-side. Note the similarities between the two bags of medication.
Is this a mistake that you could have made if you were working in this environment? Do these pictures help you understand the case from the anesthesiologist’s point of view?