The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado announced a plastic surgeon faces negligent homicide and first-degree aggravated assault charges in the death of 19-year-old Emmalyn Nguyen, reports Fox 31.
Prosecutors blame Dr. Geoffrey Kim and nurse anesthetist Rex Meeker for Nguyen’s death.
“I think the family has mixed feelings about this. Obviously, they are overwhelmingly happy that finally there will be some justice for Emmalyn, but at the same time, this brings up the whole ordeal all over again and it kind of has reawakened the trauma they went through,” said family attorney David Woodruff, to 9 News.
Kim turned himself into authorities on Wednesday before being released on bond. Investigators say Nguyen went into cardiac arrest after receiving anesthesia. She went into a coma and died 14 months later.
A lawsuit filed by the family alleges Meekr administered the anesthesia and left her alone for 15 minutes, according to the Denver Channel. The family attorney says standard care for anesthesia calls for constant monitoring of a patient.
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“She was found by a different nurse in cardiac arrest,” David Woodruff, attorney for the family, told Denver7.
“Unfortunately, he [Dr. Kim] then directed staff, it looks like, to not call 911 for close to six hours,” Woodruff said. “You just don’t see mistakes like this that are this egregious, not in 20 years of practice.”
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