$13.775 Million Verdict After Patient Stops Breathing Unnoticed During Endoscopy

Bennie Moore went to Coliseum Health System Northside Hospital in Macon on November 14, 2017, for an upper endoscopy, a routine diagnostic procedure. She was morbidly obese and had obstructive sleep apnea, conditions that significantly raise the risk of respiratory complications under sedation. A physician assistant administered propofol for monitored anesthetic care.

Almost immediately after the sedation was given, Moore stopped breathing. The physician assistant did not notice. The attending anesthesiologist had to point it out. By the time staff intervened, Moore had been without adequate oxygen long enough to suffer severe hypoxic brain injury. She lost her pulse for approximately eight minutes before being resuscitated with an Ambu bag. She was transferred to a care facility and died weeks later from those injuries.

McArthur Law Firm took on the case for Moore's family. The trial team, led by Katherine McArthur as first chair and Lindsey Macon as second chair, argued that the standard of care required the anesthesia team to account for Moore's high-risk profile before and during sedation. The anesthesiologist had not warned the assistant about her heightened respiratory risk, and the assistant was not monitoring her closely enough to catch the apnea in real time. Neither defendant adjusted the protocol to reflect the known dangers.

Caleb Walker handled legal issues at trial, Quintesha Reynolds managed courtroom technology, and Jessica Edmonds prepared demonstrative exhibits. The team walked the jury through the clinical standards governing monitored anesthetic care and used the timeline of the procedure to show exactly when monitoring failed.

The Bibb County State Court jury found the physician assistant 82.5 percent at fault and the supervising anesthesiologist 17.5 percent at fault. The award broke down as $775,000 for medical bills, $2.5 million for pain and suffering, and $10.5 million for wrongful death, totaling $13.775 million. The Law.com Daily Report covered the verdict on January 22, 2025, noting that the case turned on the assistant's failure to detect that the patient had stopped breathing.