Riverside (Calif.) County, which owns Riverside University Health System Medical Center, is paying $12 million to settle a lawsuit alleging hospital staff botched an intubation that caused a patient permanent brain damage, The Press-Enterprise reported April 27.
Riverside County will pay $1.1 million toward the settlement, the report said. The county's insurer will reimburse $10.8 million of the settlement.
The patient allegedly visited the hospital in September 2019 for surgery to remove a lump in her breast, the report said. When intubated, staff allegedly inserted the breathing tube into the patient's esophagus instead of her trachea.
The patient lost oxygen to her brain, the report said. She now needs full-time nursing care and lives in a facility for people with brain injuries.