After a Dahlonega Vietnam veteran’s family sued the United States over what they claimed to be the wrongful death of Jesse James Anderson, they were awarded $8.7-million.
The order from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg came on March 31, over three-and-a-half years after the original filing in August of 2021.
The family claimed negligent medical care and treatment by health care providers within the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Decatur led to Anderson’s death in November of 2016.
Webb Anderson, who was Jesse’s son and Donna Anderson, the administrator of Jesse’s estate and Webb’s wife, were the plaintiffs. They were represented by Matthew Cook, a Gainesville-based personal injury attorney.
“Mr. Anderson was a decorated Vietnam vet, very active. He did three tours, numerous letters of commendation, separated from the military, honorably discharged. Developed significant health problems from his exposure to Agent Orange and his service there to the country,” Cook said. “He came home, worked as a stone mason, but his health deteriorated. But he was very active and a big supporter of the VA himself, helped many other veterans obtain services at the VA, and all those things.”
The original filing claimed that Jesse was admitted to Atlanta VAMC on Nov. 4, 2016 for an elective right carotid endarterectomy, which is a surgical procedure to remove plaque buildup from the right carotid artery.
During that procedure, he suffered a Cranial Nerve IX injury, which affected his ability to eat by mouth and required a tube for feedings.
Then, on Nov. 16, 2016, Jesse’s tube came out. According to the filing, other than the “minor inconvenience” of having to have the tube reinserted, his post-surgical recovery was progressing “very well.”
“A young resident, from memory, working at the VA, ordered that the tube be put back in, and the nurses expressed a great deal of concern about trying to do that procedure. They had not been trained in it. Weren't comfortable doing it. Had never performed that procedure, and a fairly heated argument that went back and forth for five, six hours throughout the day, between the young resident who was a bully and the nurses about who would place the tube,” Cook said. “Ultimately, while the nurses relented and attempted it, and when she did, rather than placing it into his stomach, she put it into his windpipe, through his vocal cords, and that caused the vocal cord spasm.”
The complaint then said that in the afternoon of Nov. 16, the tube was reinserted by a staff member of the Atlanta VAMC. Jesse stopped breathing shortly after at around 3:30 p.m. and went into cardiac arrest.
During a conference with the VAMC Director as part of the notification to Jesse’s family, it was noted that “...the tube was misguided into the Veterans trachea.”
Cook added that the resident suggested the nurses give Anderson Ativan after he began to thrash back and forth, sweat and turn blue.
“The resident said, ‘Oh, well, if he's a little nervous, just give him some Ativan.’ Ativan is a respiratory depressant, and they gave him a shot of that,” Cook said. “He went unconscious and subsequently suffered a massive brain injury from the inability to breathe. Ultimately, a code was called, the tube was removed from his windpipe, but it was too late, and he had a massive brain injury and passed a few days later.”
Jesse was on mechanical ventilation until the family agreed to have him extubated on Nov. 18, 2016.
An autopsy was performed on Nov. 25 of that year that attributed his cause of death to “hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest due to probable vocal cord spasm due to probable inadvertent placement of feeding tube into larynx.”
The original complaint claimed professional negligence. “These providers’ conduct fell below the standard of care since these individual care providers failed to recognize that the Dobhoff tube was in Mr. Anderson’s trachea rather than his esophagus; failed to withdraw the tube and failed to recognize that his life was at immediate risk,” a filing read.
“It's been a long fight. You know, the case where the neglect was obvious, the government commenced an independent investigation and concluded internally that they were at fault, and they were the cause of his death. Unfortunately, when we started to deal with the Department of Justice, they wouldn't accept responsibility,” Cook said. “They blamed Mr. Anderson. At times, they said that his death was unrelated, so it put the family through a prolonged period of unnecessary litigation.”
Webb originally sought $3-million from a failed administrative claim in 2018 and Donna sought $1-million.
After discovery and witness testimonies from doctors, the court determined Jesse’s life expectancy pre-surgery would have been in the range of eight to 14 years.
There was also a sanctions hearing in December of 2023 focused on misconduct in the discovery process as well as by “some Government representatives.” That is when Webb increased the claimed damages from $3-million to $6-million and Donna increased her estate claim from $1-million to $19-million.
The court ultimately ruled that Webb’s damages totaled to be $6-million while Donna’s claims totaled $2.7-million plus $1,440 for the expenses in handling Jesse’s cremation. Along with the $430,000 in sanctions against the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the total was $9.1-million that the U.S. Government was ordered to pay out.
