The family of a man who passed away in 2023 while undergoing regular cataract surgery in Colorado has reached a settlement with the medical professionals who were held responsible for his passing.
Bart Writer, who was 56 years old at the time, was receiving a regular treatment to repair cataracts on February 3, 2023 at the InSight Surgery Center in Lone Tree, which is a suburb of Denver, according to a report that was published by KUSA, a local NBC affiliate television station. The surgeon in charge, Dr. C. Starck Johnson, had been familiar with the patient for a number of years, and he was slated to do the operation alongside Dr. Michael Urban, who was designated as the anesthesiologist. There was an expectation that the extremely common surgery would take approximately ten minutes.
Due to the fact that it was so normal, the medical staff informed Chris Writer, who is married to Bart Writer, that she was free to leave the hospital in order to run errands if she so desired.
While Chris Writer was at a place close to the facility, Johnson called her and asked her to meet him in the parking lot. Johnson asked her to meet him there. According to what she said with KUSA, Johnson inquired about her faith in God a moment after she arrived.
Bart Writer’s vital signs reportedly went “abnormal” eleven minutes into the treatment, as stated in the lawsuit that KUSA was able to get. However, the lawsuit alleged that despite the fact that Bart Writer was connected to a number of monitors that had alarms that would sound if the readings deviated from the typical range, “[n]o one in the operating room ensured that the audible tones, signals, and alarms were turned on and audible prior to the beginning of the procedure.”
When Bart Writer started having respiratory discomfort, Johnson and Urban were allegedly playing a game of “music bingo.” This was mentioned in the lawsuit. The game was based on a playlist that was played via Urban’s cell phone, which featured tunes from the 1970s and 1980s, according to the reporting that was done by KUSA on the deposition statements that were made by both of the doctors. For example, the Bee Gees were represented by the letter “B,” and Gladys Knight was represented by the letter “G.” Bands and musicians were identified by the first letter of their first names by this method. The objective was to be the first person to correctly spell “BINGO.”
As the only person in the operating room who was able to view Bart Writer’s readings, Urban was the one who was responsible for keeping score during the “music bingo” game that was played on that particular day.
As a result of a lack of oxygen, Bart Writer, who was covered from the head down during the operation, had begun to turn blue. However, by the time he was transported to a local hospital, it was already too late to save his life. The medical staff at the hospital determined that he had passed away, and they cited cardiac arrest as the cause of death.
“They simply did not pay attention,” Chris Writer said in an interview with KUSA. Perhaps they perform so many of these operations that they have become so accustomed to doing them. It’s just that I’m so angry.” After the passing of her husband, she was informed by an unknown physician who was not present in the operating room that Johnson and Urban were known to play their “music bingo” game during surgical procedures. This information was provided to her after her husband’s passing.
During the course of the investigation, the heartbroken widow hired attorneys to interrogate both physicians, who admitted in taped depositions that were also obtained by KUSA that they had been playing the game when they were operating on Bart Writer.
Johnson, who appeared to throw his erstwhile “music bingo” playmate under the bus, was threatened with legal action by Chris Writer. In a statement that he gave to KUSA, he faulted Urban, with whom he claimed to have performed 8,000 cataract procedures, “for decisions that violated proper protocol.”
“Dr. Johnson relies on the anesthesiologist to provide the appropriate dose and type of anesthesia, to properly monitor the patient’s condition, and to communicate all relevant information to the surgeon, including if they have elected, for whatever reason, to silence the audible alarms,” said Johnson’s attorney in a statement received by KUSA. Throughout the entirety of the cataract operation, Dr. Johnson is seeing the process through the lens of a little microscope. As a result, he is need to rely on the surgical team for a significant portion of the surgical intervention.
He concluded by saying, “Nothing in Dr. Johnson’s experience would explain, justify or have predicted Dr. Urban’s decisions on that day.”
KUSA received a response from Urban’s attorney, who stated that “Dr. Urban stands by his care and treatment of Mr. Writer and disagrees with the surgeon’s characterizations of the events of that day, which we understand are in the context of contentious litigation.” Urban’s attorney provided this response in response to the statement. Furthermore, he has a great deal of compassion for Ms. Writer and the loss she has suffered.
As a result of his relocation to another state, he is no longer employed at the InSight Surgery Center.
It was stated by KUSA that Chris Writer and Johnson reached a settlement for a sum that was not disclosed.
