A Colorado surgeon was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a teenage patient who died after being in a coma for 14 months, NBC News reported June 15.
Geoffrey Kim, MD, a plastic surgeon, was found guilty June 14 of attempted reckless manslaughter and obstruction of telephone service. He will be sentenced Sept. 8 and faces up to three years in prison.
Emmalyn Nguyen was 18 when she underwent breast augmentation surgery Aug. 1, 2019, at Colorado Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery in Greenfield Village. She fell into a coma and went into cardiac arrest after receiving anesthesia, officials said.
Rex Meeker, a nurse anesthetist who administered anesthesia to the patient, testified June 7 that he witnessed Dr. Kim perform CPR and resuscitate the patient's heartbeat and that the surgeon ordered his staff not to call 911. It was five hours before Dr. Kim agreed to have Mr. Meeker call 911.
NBC affiliate KUSA reported Dr. Kim's medical license was briefly suspended in January 2020 but was reinstated a month later. He was put on probation for three years and only allowed to perform procedures that required "general anesthesia and conscious sedation with an anesthesiologist present and on-site," court documents said.