TN patient dies after oxygen explodes in Nashville hospital

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Tennessee girl says she watched her husband’s face catch hearth after oxygen exploded at a Nashville hospital on Thanksgiving Day. He died a short while later, and now hospitals worldwide are paying nearer consideration to this uncommon, however probably lethal difficulty.

On Thursday, at TriStar Centennial Medical Center, a 35-year marriage modified immediately.

“I was sitting in the chair, and it blew up,” mentioned Kathy Stark. “And you could smell the smoke, it was terrible.”

Kathy’s husband, Bobby Ray Stark, was in a hospital room earlier than foot surgical procedure. She says he was hooked as much as an oxygen tank when his blood strain dropped dramatically. She remembers one of many 10 nurses within the room referred to as a crash cart. That’s when a hearth sparked and his oxygen tank, a life-saving system, turned life-taking.

“It burned off his beard, he got burned on his chest, his hands, his head, and his back I think,” Stark recalled.

Kathy Stark says she seemed inside Bobby Stark’s mouth and noticed it was additionally burnt. She now believes it scorched his throat and lungs.

“I just went into shock,” she mentioned. “I’d never seen anything like that, and I said that. And they (hospital staff) said that.”

We introduced this case to an harm lawyer, Brandon Bass with The Law Offices of John Day. He says fires occur in working rooms all over the world over 600 occasions a yr and will be lethal.

“OR (operating room) fires, they happen, but they’re not supposed to,” Bass mentioned. “There’s a bunch of protocols put in place to prevent that from occurring.”

Bass says it takes three parts to gentle up oxygen: gas – like plastic tubes, oxygen itself, and a spark.

“Once it occurs, where’s the oxygen? Where’s the fuel going?” Bass questioned. “It’s deliberately going down and into the person’s lungs.”

Kathy Stark mentioned Bobby Stark was despatched to Tristar Skyline’s burn unit the place he died. As her husband’s sole caretaker for seven years, she didn’t count on to lose him in seconds.

“I just wonder what happened and don’t want it to happen again,” Kathy mentioned.

WSMV4 reached out to HCA Healthcare about what occurred, they usually responded with the next assertion:

We lengthen our deepest sympathies to this household for the lack of their liked one. While we can not talk about specifics, we’re reviewing the care offered to the affected person and the performance of the tools. The dying of a liked one is at all times very troublesome, and our hearts exit to this household.

• Anna-Lee Cockrill, AVP, Strategic Communications and Public Relations.

The Stark’s mentioned they’re working to rent an legal professional and take the case to court docket.

They have additionally began a GoFundMe for his or her household who trusted Bobby Stark’s social safety.

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