5 anesthesia controversies to know

Here are five recent controversies involving anesthesia providers:

1. An anesthesiologist has sued Boynton Beach, Fla.-based Bethesda Hospital after he allegedly slipped and fell in an ASC. The suit alleges James Cerullo, MD, slipped and fell on Dec. 23, 2022, near an ASC operating room where he was scheduled to work and sustained critical injuries because the facility was not cleaned in a professional manner.

The suit alleges Dr. Cerullo slipped and fell on a "wet, slippery, dangerous floor" that had been mopped by an employee of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Baptist Health, parent company of the hospital. Baptist and Bethesda West owed the public a hospital in a "reasonably safe" condition, the suit said.

2. The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology filed a petition with a U.S. district court compelling Xavier Beccera, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to enforce the provider non-discrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act against insurance companies and health plans. The non-discrimination provision was passed in 2010 to prohibit commercial payers from discriminating against providers on the basis of licensure, including setting up different reimbursement policies for those providers delivering the same high-quality healthcare services.

3. The American Society of Anesthesiologists filed a trademark complaint against the recently renamed American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, alleging that its use of the word "anesthesiology" is "deceptively misdescriptive." The complaint was filed in June to the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and aims to prevent the AANA from registering a trademark for the new title. If the ASA wins, it could sue the nurses organization in federal court. AANA has, to this point, denied all allegations, according to the report. 

4. New Haven, Conn.-based Yale has agreed to settle with dozens of patients who filed lawsuits claiming a nurse at its fertility clinic swapped anesthesia for saline. While the payout was undisclosed, plaintiffs’ lawyers said it was "substantial," according to the report. In court filings, plaintiffs suggested a $2 million payout per patient. 

The settlement involved 93 patients who were seen at Yale Fertility Center in 2020. In the lawsuits, patients described egg retrievals they underwent at the center as "intensely painful." The patients claimed they complained to Yale and were allegedly ignored. 

5. The sentencing for Raynaldo Ortiz Jr., MD, a former anesthesiologist at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas who is accused of tampering with IV bags, has been delayed for the fourth time. Dr. Ortiz was found guilty in April on 10 counts of tampering with IV bags and the adulteration of drugs and faces up to 190 years in prison. The Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended his license in April. Dr. Ortiz was accused of injecting drugs into five IV bags and putting them in a warming bin in August 2022. Four patients suffered cardiac emergencies. He is also suspected in 13 other unexplained emergencies between May and August 2022 but was charged with tampering causing serious bodily injury to only four patients. 

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