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HOW DID THE BLOOD LEAK HAPPEN?

The deceased woman's family claim in their lawsuit that she died after doctors left an open tube from her body after surgery.

As part of her routine heart surgery, the woman needed a cardiopulmonary bypass, whereby a machine temporarily takes over the function of the heart. 

A tube carried blood from the woman's neck to the machine, which oxygenated the blood in a reservoir, and returned it to her body through a second set of tubing attached to her femur.

After the procedure, when the woman's heart was beating on its own again and the wound was closed, the technician broke down the machine. 

The tube returning the blood to her femur was removed. 

But the tube leading blood from her neck to the machine's reservoir was left in her body, unclamped, and blood continued to flow through it.  

Unaware, the technician removed the blood reservoir from the bypass machine and put it in a medical waste garbage can.

The woman's heart continued to pump blood into the reservoir, eventually causing her heart to give out, the lawsuit alleges.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune 

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