Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

A settlement has reportedly been reached between a health organization in Fishersville, Virginia, and the family of a man who died while undergoing MR imaging at the facility. 

According to local news outlets, Augusta Health Care has offered to pay around $775,000 to the family and attorneys of David P. Baker, who passed away during an MRI exam at the facility three years ago.  

Baker, who was 51 at the time of his death, presented to Augusta Health with neck and shoulder pain, a cough, fever and weakness in March of 2021. He was diagnosed with sepsis, hyperglycemia, acute anemia and dehydration and was admitted to the intensive care unit. Later, he was given secondary diagnoses of congestive heart failure, liver lesions and poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, all of which resulted in cardiac monitoring during his stay. 

He was receiving supplemental oxygen due to his breathing difficulties. However, when a doctor ordered an MRI to investigate the cause of his neck and shoulder pain, the need for supplemental oxygen was not noted. The order did not indicate that Baker needed respiratory support nor a nursing escort. Complicating matters further, Baker was given fentanyl and another sedation drug to help him complete the exam comfortably, as he had difficulty lying down. 

Under normal circumstances, sedation requires respiratory monitoring, but Baker did not receive this during his exam. It is believed that he experienced cardiac arrest and passed away, which went unnoticed by the technologist until they went to retrieve him after the scan was completed. The tech reportedly attempted to resuscitate Baker but was unsuccessful. 

Baker's family filed a wrongful death suit against the facility in 2023. The official court documents are sealed, but local news outlets with close knowledge of the matter report that Augusta Health has made an offer to settle the lawsuit, though they are not claiming liability.