Last Thursday, a family filed a medical malpractice suit against St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., claiming that their father died from injuries sustained after he fell off an operating table during surgery. According to news reports, the family of 61-year-old Max DeVries expected his scheduled surgery to be a routine procedure but ended in his death on March 8, 2010.

The suit claims that during surgery DeVries somehow rolled off or fell off the operating table just before his surgery was to be performed. Reports detail that he was under anesthesia when he fell to the ground. He was in surgery to undergo a procedure to drain fluid in his back caused by dwelling in his brain.

Family members detailed that the fall was particularly harmful because "he landed on a portion of his head where a part of his skull was removed weeks prior to reduce swelling in his brain caused by a stroke."

The family claims in the suit that the hospital was negligent and failed to use proper safeguards to prevent the operating room fall. According to reports, Devries was about 5'5" tall and weighed about 300 pounds. The suit details that St. Joseph's Hospital did not have the correct operating table or restraints to handle a man of his size.

Following the incident, DeVries went into a coma-like state only 72 hours after the fall and he died a month later. The family is suing St. Joseph's Hospital and HealthEast Care System for gross negligence. The suit seeks compensation for the loss of their father.

Source: KARE 11 "MN hospital sued after patient dies from fall off surgical table" 07/23/2010