A TikToker died after negligent nurses caused her to fatally overdose on pain medication while she was recovering from a tummy tuck surgery, according to a lawsuit recently filed by the woman's husband.
Rachel Tussey's Surgery and Death
Rachel Tussey, a mother-of-three and influencer with more than 80,000 followers on TikTok, was excited to receive a 'mommy makeover' before she underwent the procedure at JourneyLite surgery center in Cincinnati on February 25. She had been documenting the process on her social media page and uploaded a video from her surgery bed shortly before she went under for nine hours.
'I feel a big range of emotions, but mostly it is absolutely excitement and gratitude,' she said in the video. 'My husband's here. I've got a great support team, and I'm really looking forward to this next chapter.' 'Please pray. I know it's gonna be great, and I've waited a really long time for this. I'm in good hands. I know God's got my back,' she said later in the post.
However, according to a lawsuit filed last week by Rachel's husband, Jeremy Tussey, it turned out that his wife was not truly in good hands. The lawsuit states that one of the nurses in JourneyLite's recovery room caused Rachel to overdose on opioids by administering 150 micrograms of fentanyl and half a milligram of Dilaudid within 30 minutes of her surgery. That dosage was well above what the mother received during her nine-hour surgery, over the course of which she was administered 100 micrograms of fentanyl and another half milligram of Dilaudid, according to the lawsuit.
Medical Negligence Allegations
Rachel's overdose caused her to lose oxygen flow to her brain for more than six minutes, and nurses failed to act urgently and respond properly during that crucial timeframe, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit further stated that after the nurses finally called 911 about nine minutes after she became unresponsive, Rachel was transported to Bethesda North Hospital, where staff determined she was brain dead. She remained on a ventilator until March 7, when she was transferred to hospice care. She died in hospice on March 17.
Bethesda North Hospital determined that Rachel's cause of death was an anoxic brain injury and acute respiratory failure caused by an overdose. The hospital's staff also ruled out any other potential cause of death, such as complications from the surgery, according to the lawsuit.
About a month before Jeremy filed his lawsuit, Rachel's surgeon, Dr Shahryar Tork, also filed a lawsuit accusing JourneyLite and its staff of negligence and causing his patient's death. 'Rachel's death was completely unnecessary and caused by a JourneyLite nurse recklessly overdosing Rachel on narcotics, and by a JourneyLite anesthesiologist abandoning their patient,' the surgeon told WCPO. 'This was not a tummy tuck complication; she would be home, I would see her smiling in my office, if other people had done their job right,' Tork added.
Legal Action and Claims
In a video posted from Bethesda North Hospital while Rachel was still hooked up to a ventilator, her husband similarly said, 'She was administered too much medicine. Point five Dilaudid, on top of 150 fentanyl, is way too much for somebody that is so minute, that is so sensitive to drugs,' he said.
JourneyLite, Associated Anesthesiologists of Springfield, facility administrators and nurses listed as Jane Does were all named as defendants in Jeremy's lawsuit. The civil complaint accused JourneyLite of being responsible for Rachel's death through 'systemic failures' and 'regulatory violations.' Tork, the surgeon, was not named as a defendant in Jeremy's lawsuit.
The complaint also accused the surgery center of attempting to alter its records after Rachel died by changing medication doses and administration times, and it cited an email about 'purging files' sent by a JourneyLite employee on the day Rachel died. Facility administrators even asked Tork to alter his operative notes twice, which he refused to do on both occasions, according to the lawsuit.
In all, the lawsuit accused the defendants of medical negligence, negligent hiring and retention, spoliation of evidence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium. Jeremy is seeking compensation exceeding $25,000 per claim, as well as punitive damages and attorney fees. The lawsuit demanded a trial by jury.
In a GoFundMe set up to help Jeremy pay for medical expenses, Rachel was described as 'an example of what community and compassion should look like.' 'She dedicated countless hours helping others, including organizing donation efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, collecting supplies and personally delivering essential items to those in need,' it says on the fundraising page. 'When someone needed help, Rachel was always the first person to step forward.'
