By Dave Andrusko

The state Health Department fined St. Joseph’s Hospital $22,000 for nearly removing organs from a patient who was alive in 2009. (Photo by Paul Finch)
In 2009, a string of colossal errors led doctors at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, New York, to be moments from removing organs from Colleen S. Burns whom they had concluded was brain-dead.
“Then she opened her eyes,” reported John O’Brien and James T. Mulder of the Syracuse Post-Standard. “She was alive.”
“The state Health Department found St. Joe’s care of patient Colleen S. Burns in 2009 unacceptable and a federal agency criticized the hospital for not properly investigating the cause,” O’Brien and Mulder reported.
As a result the hospital was fined a total of $22,000–$6,000 for the near-catastrophic transplant and $16,000 for leaving a patient unattended before she fell and injured her head in 2011.
How did it happen? Burns was admitted in October 2009 with a drug overdose comprised of Xanax, Benadryl and a muscle relaxant. What followed was error compounded by further error, with clear signs Burns was not brain-dead ignored.
The State Health Department’s investigation found that when Burns was first admitted the hospital skipped a recommended treatment that would prevent the drugs she had taken from being absorbed by her stomach and intestines.
And because they didn’t perform enough brain scans, the doctors concluded she had suffered “cardiac death, according to documents obtained by The Post-Standard under the state Freedom of Information Law. In fact, it was the drug overdose that put her into the coma. (They also didn’t do enough testing to see if Burn was free of drugs.)
Told of their daughter’s condition, the parents agreed to allow her to be taken off life support and her organs removed.
The report from the State Health Department also made clear that the hospital had missed tell-tale signs. According to the Daily Mail,
“[T]he day before the organs were to be removed, a nurse performed a reflex test and found that Burns was still reacting.
“She scraped her finger on the bottom of one of Burns’ feet and her toes curled downward, a sign that she was still alive.
“And that wasn’t the only sign of life. As she was being wheeled to the operating room, Burns’ nostrils flared and it seemed she was breathing independently from the respirator. Her lips and tongue were moving as well.
“But doctor’s ignored the nurse’s observations which indicated Burns was still alive, and proceeded with the surgery anyway.”
The Post-Standard reported that not until prodded by the state did St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center thoroughly investigate what went wrong. Indeed, the hospital did not report the incident.
In its report the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said, “The hospital did not undertake an intensive and critical review of the near catastrophic event in this case.” The Daily Mail reported that, “Overall, the federal report found that the patient did not meet criteria for withdrawal of care. “
Even though Burns’ mother, Lucille Kuss, said doctors never explained what went wrong, neither Burns nor her family sued the hospital.
Unfortunately, even though Burns recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital two weeks later, she committed suicide 16 months later, in January 2011, Kuss said.