Marcos Aleman, individually and as administrator of the estate of Josefa Aleman, appeals entry of summary judgment on claims arising out of the death of his wife of 15 years. Josefa had diabetes, and while undergoing dialysis she became unresponsive. Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she never regained consciousness; she died about three weeks later. In this action, Aleman claims the defendant medical providers were negligent in how they reacted when Josefa initially became unresponsive, including that they failed to provide proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR and failed to use an automated external defibrillator AED. He also asserts negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention. The trial court found Aleman had failed to raise an issue of material fact regarding causation. The record shows that on December 26, 2006, Josefa began dialysis at Sugarloaf Dialysis, LLC at 10:37 a.m. At 10:48, Michelle Mouang, the patient care technician, noticed Josefa’s blood pressure was low. She administered saline, but Josefa passed out possibly as early as 10:50. Mouang summoned nurse Oluwole “Wally” Adepitan. He arrived “within thirty seconds” and asked her to get an oxygen tank, which took “less than a minute.” They connected the oxygen and tilted Josefa’s dialysis chair so that her feet were above her head. Adepitan administered more saline and called the attending doctor. At some point Josefa became unresponsive, and, according to Mouang, Adepitan began CPR, although she was not sure at what time or whether he started after the 911 call. She testified, “after we called 911, the CPR started, and then I went to see another patient.” Before she moved to the other patient, Mouang saw Adepitan begin CPR; she recalled that Josefa was still in her chair. Josefa was disconnected from the dialysis machine at some point. According to EMS records, the 911 call was received at 10:53 a.m. But the nursing record states, among other things, “Paramedics arrived and started CPR; I was told to detach ED.”
Emergency medical service technicians EMS arrived at 10:59, got to Josefa at 11:00, and saw that CPR was already being performed with a bag valve mask. The lead EMS responder thought that Josefa was on the floor beside the chair when they arrived, but he could not be sure. EMS records state that when they arrived, Josefa’s heart was in a state of “pulseless electrical activity,” meaning a monitor will show some electrical activity in the heart, but there is no actual beating. In this state, an AED will not deliver a shock. Among other things, EMS administered drugs to restart the heart and took Josefa to a hospital emergency room. She was diagnosed with anoxic encephalopathy, or brain damage caused by lack of oxygen. She never regained consciousness, and she died on January 16, 2007.
