A Lesson in Self-Knowledge

The plaintiffs allege that before his May 2009 colonoscopy at Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton, Ky., Charles Harold Curtis Jr. told his anesthesia provider, Leonard Hohlbein, CRNA, that he had sleep apnea and needed to use a continuous positive airway pressure machine while sleeping. Mr. Hohlbein allegedly looked at Mr. Curtis' neck, said it looked normal and administered a reduced dose of propofol with a nasal cannula. When the patient's condition "deteriorated," the anesthesia provider tried to intubate the patient but couldn't manage, according to court documents filed in April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

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