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Colorado plastic surgeon Dr Geoffrey Kim is facing manslaughter charges in connection with the death of 18-year-old patient Emmalyn Nguyen following a botched surgery in 2019.
The teenager appointed the doctor to conduct augmentation surgery, but suffered a cardiac arrest after anesthesia was administered before the procedure. She reportedly turned blue and went into a vegetative state before drawing her last breath in October 2020, more than a year after the surgery.
Nguyen’s family filed a lawsuit against Dr. Kim and nurse anesthetist Rex Meeker, claiming that they did not seek emergency help during the procedure and delayed her hospitalization for nearly five hours.
Following two years of investigation, Dr Geoffrey Kim turned himself in earlier this week and was later released on a $5,000 bond. He has been charged with “reckless manslaughter and first-degree aggravated assault.”
An arrest warrant is also out for anesthetist Meeker, who has also been charged with reckless manslaughter. He reportedly turned himself in on Friday, February 18, 2022.
What did Dr Geoffrey Kim and Rex Meeker do?
On August 1, 2019, 18-year-old Emmalyn Nguyen consulted Dr. Geoffrey Kim at the Colorado Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery for breast augmentation surgery. However, she suffered a heart attack after nurse anesthetist Rex Meeker placed the patient under anesthesia.
Kim and Meeker tried to resuscitate Nguyen twice after she started turning blue due to inadequate oxygen supply and also attempted to reverse the anesthesia. Unfortunately, the patient suffered severe brain damage and went into a comatose state that left her permanently “semi-conscious.”
The teenager was confined to the hospital bed and could not eat, walk or talk due to her condition. She was also attached to an oxygen machine and had to be fed through a tube. Unfortunately, Nguyen passed away on October 4, 2020, nearly 14 months after the failed procedure.
The patient’s family filed a lawsuit claiming that Dr. Kim and his team kept Nguyen unobserved for nearly 15 minutes after administering anesthesia and failed to notice that she had suffered a cardiac arrest and wasn't breathing.
Family attorney David Woodruff alleged that doctors did not seek immediate medical help and contacted 911 more than five hours after the incident. He also claimed that Nguyen’s mother Lynn Fam was misinformed about her daughter’s condition despite being seated in the waiting area.
Lynn told KDVR in December 2019 that the doctors mentioned that her daughter was “fine” even after she suffered a cardiac arrest:
“She's doing fine and she's young, maybe that's the reason why she's taking longer to wake up.”
According to arrest warrants obtained by The New York Post, investigators alleged that Dr. Geoffrey Kim turned down his staff’s request to call 911 after the first failed resuscitation attempt on Nguyen.
Documents also showed that he did not allow Lynn Fam to see her daughter in the operation room. Emergency room doctor David Bosch also confirmed to investigators that Kim and Meeker did not give him immediate and accurate information that would have contributed towards Nguyen’s treatment:
“[Bosch] stated he did not know if it was deliberate, however it seemed like it had to have been deliberate.”
Defense attorney Lou Shapiro mentioned that it is unusual for a medical doctor to face criminal charges in connection to patient care, but admitted that the details provided in Geoffrey Kim’s case was “disturbing”:
“The more a doctor deviates from the norm, the more likely he will be prosecuted. The last high-profile case we saw where that occurred was Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor. That was proven to be egregiously dangerous treatment.”
Following Nguyen’s death, the lawsuit against Kim and Meeker was transformed into a “wrongful death lawsuit.” Both Meeker and Kim settled the lawsuit with Nguyen’s family in 2021 with a payment of $1 million each.
Kim and Meeker finally turned themselves in to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department this week. A spokesperson with the Office of the District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District said that Dr. Kim is likely to face charges of felony negligent homicide, reckless manslaughter and misdemeanor obstruction of service.
Dr Geoffrey Kim’s medical license was suspended following Nguyen’s death but was later reinstated with three years of probation. Meanwhile, Meeker has decided to voluntarily stop administering anesthesia, but has been allowed to continue practicing as a nurse.
