A settled lawsuit alleges that two doctors were distracted by a game of 'music bingo' during a routine cataract operation, failing to notice that their patient had stopped breathing. Bart Writer, 56, died shortly after the procedure at InSight Surgery Center in Lone Tree, Colorado, on February 3, 2023.
The lawsuit, filed by his widow Chris Writer, claimed that the distraction contributed to staff failing to monitor vital signs. Surgeon Dr. Carl Stark Johnson and anaesthesiologist Dr. Michael Urban regularly played the game during operations, listening to 1970s and 1980s songs to mark off band names on bingo cards. Both admitted during depositions that they played during Mr Writer's surgery.
Mr Johnson, who has performed over 25,000 cataract surgeries, blamed Dr Urban for silencing critical monitoring alarms without informing the team. Dr Urban, whose Colorado medical licence has since expired and now practices in Oregon, maintains he acted appropriately. Audible alarms had reportedly been turned off, and Mr Writer's body was draped, so no one noticed his skin turning blue from oxygen deprivation.
Staff noticed abnormal vital signs 11 minutes into the surgery, but by the time Mr Writer was transferred to Sky Ridge Medical Center, it was too late. An autopsy listed cardiac arrest caused by oxygen deprivation as the cause of death, and investigators concluded it was a horrible accident.
Mrs Writer said she was out running an errand when the surgeon called to meet her in the car park. 'He asked if I believed in God,' she recalled. 'Then he asked if I'd pray with him – and that's when I knew something was wrong.' The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. Mrs Writer, who would have celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary on July 15, remains heartbroken and angry, saying the doctors 'just didn't pay attention'.
