Overview
- Dr. Shahryar Tork filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against JourneyLite Surgery Center in the Cincinnati area and its anesthesia partner, alleging negligent recovery care led to 47-year-old Rachel Tussey’s death.
- The complaint says two nurses gave 150 micrograms of fentanyl and 0.5 milligrams of Dilaudid within minutes after surgery, which he argues caused respiratory failure and an anoxic brain injury.
- The suit also alleges a delayed 911 call and improper use of a bag mask during resuscitation, leaving Tussey without oxygen for several minutes.
- The filing claims JourneyLite altered charts and obscured a nurse’s identity to cover up errors, allegations the center rejects as false and defamatory.
- JourneyLite denies any wrongdoing, cites an outside review and state pharmacy audits that found no errors, notes the family declined an autopsy, and faces moves by the family’s lawyers to secure records as the case heads into discovery.