Surgeon Found Guilty Of Attempted Manslaughter: On June 14, 2023, a Colorado criminal jury deliberated for five hours before reportedly finding plastic surgeon Dr. Geoffrey Kim guilty of attempted manslaughter of a teenager following a procedure he had performed on her. The jury also found Dr. Kim guilty of obstructing telephone services for not allowing staff to call 911 for five hours after his patient fell into a coma on the operating table. The jury acquitted Dr. Kim on the charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide.
According to news reports, on August 1, 2019, Dr. Kim performed breast enhancement surgery on 18-year-old Emmalyn Nguyen. After Emmalyn received anesthesia, she slipped into a coma, suffered cardiac arrest, and she never regained consciousness. Emmalyn died at the age of 19 in a nursing home, fourteen months after her surgery.
Dr. Kim’s defense argued to the jury that the nurse anesthetist, Rex Meeker, who was participating in the surgery as an independent contractor, was the cause of Emmalyn’s death, by administering between two and seven times more fentanyl than necessary. Meeker reportedly testified during Dr. Kim’s criminal trial that Dr. Kim waited more than five hours before he allowed Meeker to call 911.
The prosecution argued to the jury that Emmalyn might have recovered had she been sent to the hospital immediately, and that the catastrophic brain injury she suffered was due to the delay in calling 911 because Dr. Kim refused to allow staff to summons help.
Dr. Kim is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8, 2023, at which time he faces a sentence ranging from probation to a prison sentence of up to three years.
While Dr. Kim still holds his medical license, Meeker surrendered his nursing license after the nursing board determined that he had an independent duty to call 911.
A Colorado wrongful death lawsuit against Dr. Kim and Meeker reportedly resulted in $1 million settlements from both.
At the time Dr. Kim was arrested, the Captain of Investigations stated, “We opened this criminal case in August 2019. The investigation has taken more than two years to complete and involved dozens of interviews and search warrants. Our hope is that this will be the beginning of bringing justice and a sense of closure to Emmalyn’s family.“
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Meeker was originally charged in February of 2022 with manslaughter for “recklessly causing the death of Nguyen from similar allegations plus, failing to properly observe her after administering anesthesia and failing to recognize she was not breathing for 15 minutes,” but the manslaughter charge was dropped after he agreed to testify against Dr. Kim during Dr. Kim’s criminal trial.
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