A Colorado surgical team allegedly played a music bingo game on a cell phone while performing what was expected to be a routine cataract operation—an act at the center of a lawsuit settled after the patient, Bart Reiter, died of cardiac arrest. According to the suit, both the surgeon, Dr. Stark Johnson, and the anesthesiologist, Dr. Michael Urban, participated in the distraction as Reiter underwent the routine surgery, one of almost 4 million such procedures performed annually in the US, Local 12 reports.
Reiter's wife, Chris, says in the suit she was told there was no reason to stay at the surgical center during the procedure and that she'd be called when it was over. Eleven minutes into the operation, staff noticed Reiter's vital signs were off. The 56-year-old died after being transferred to a hospital. Chris Reiter, who described her late husband as active and healthy, said the events "just didn't make sense." Depositions revealed the surgical team sometimes disabled audible alarms in the operating room. Johnson stated that Urban silenced alarms without alerting anyone, alleging that Urban was not paying adequate attention to Reiter's vital signs. Urban, through legal counsel, has disputed Johnson's characterization and insists he followed appropriate care standards.
Details of the legal settlement have not been disclosed, but the doctors allegedly admitted to being distracted. The music bingo game apparently involved playing songs on a cell phone and marking off the titles on a board in an attempt to get a "B-I-N-G-O," 9 News reports. For example, if a Bee Gees song played, Urban said while deposed, that would count as the letter "B."
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