Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1997 | 10:50 a.m.
Columbia Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center has restructured its anesthesia system, following a state investigation that showed it didn't meet Medicare requirements.
The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services found that the hospital "failed to furnish anesthesia services in a well-organized manner."
The department then ordered Sunrise to have a system in place, where staff would know which anesthesiologist was on call with a specific doctor. Coded lists are now posted in the emergency and operating rooms listing both physicians.
While doctors were on call for daily surgery in the emergency room, state investigators found that no anesthesiologists were on call. Physicians were left with the responsibility of summoning an anesthesiologistof their choice, and the hospital administration was not involved in the process.
"There's always been coverage," said Dr. Frank Nemec, chief of staff. "Now there's a piece of paper (with an anesthesiologist's name on it). We do the same thing, but now it's codified. There's nothing wrong with a codified process."
The investigation stemmed from the revocation of anesthesiologist Dr. Thomas Yee's privileges in August 1996. Yee, who had been at Sunrise to attend a patient in labor, left his patient to administer anesthesia to two other patients brought into the emergency room.
The hospital said Yee had been negligent. Yee said the other two women would have died without his help. He has since filed a lawsuit for $50 million against Sunrise Hospital, contending that the medical facility has ruined his reputation.
District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle dismissed four of Yee's six claims against Sunrise.
Jerald Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of Sunrise, said in a written statement that the court also denied Yee's request that it stop the hospital from promoting itself as a 24-hour, full-service hospital providing emergency care.
Yee said he plans to appeal the denied claims.
"The judge did not throw the lawsuit out," Yee said. "We feel our case is so strong that no matter how many different courts we have to file in, we will see this to the end."
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