Emmalyn Nguyen was a beautiful 18-year-old who wanted to have breast augmentation like many other young girls. But Emmalyn’s parents didn’t know that while they were waiting for Emmalyn to come out of surgery, she was in serious trouble. After being administered anesthesia, Emmalyn went into cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated but never regained consciousness. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Geoffrey Kim admitted he didn’t call 911 for help for approximately five hours. The procedure occurred on August 1, 2019. The lawyer for the Nguyen family said that it appears that Emmalyn stopped breathing because of improper anesthesia.
Nguyen was left brain injured, unable to speak, walk or feed herself and needing around-the-clock medical care. On Oct. 2, 2020, Nguyen developed severe pneumonia which caused her to go into cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated but ultimately died on Oct. 4, 2020. She was 19 years old when she died. Emmalyn was in a coma for 14 months.
Dr. Kim later reached an agreement with Colorado state regulators admitting to “unprofessional conduct.” He is serving three years probation but is allowed to practice medicine, with certain restrictions. The nurse anesthetist in the case, Rex Meeker, voluntarily agreed to discontinue administering anesthesia but is allowed to continue practicing nursing.
In 2021, the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Nguyen family was settled. The doctor and the nurse anesthetist have agreed to pay $1 million each to the family of Emmalyn Nguyen. The attorney for the Nguyen family says that most of the money will be used for medical bills.
This medical office killed this girl. They thought she would wake up…right
This is baffling. How could the doctor wait so long to declare this an emergency. What were the qualifications of the nurse anesthetist?
They both messed up and let this girl die.