John Vincent Flynn, a registered nurse was accused on May 11 by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state Board of Registered Nursing of gross negligence and unprofessional conduct. Flynn was found liable for botching a procedure at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance.
He was found liable for causing the death of a 73-year-old patient Mansoor Lahiji in 2014 by twice inserting a feeding tube into his lungs. He was not qualified to perform the procedure and he did it without receiving a doctor’s order which comes under act of medical malpractise.This medical negligence by Nurse lead to patient Death in torrance.
Flynn is presently listed as a faculty member for teaching nursing skills courses on El Camino College’s Spring and Fall 2021 class schedules. However, official district spokeswoman Ann O’Brien stated that Mr. Flynn was on leave from El Camino College.
Mansoor Lahiji a diabetic was under treatment at Little Company for confusion and difficulty staying conscious. During the treatment, the doctors discovered a subdural hematoma, a collection of blood on the left side of his brain. Mr. Lahiji was asked to undergo surgery for the same.
After the surgery, he was in an intensive case for some time before being transferred to a regular room. On the day of his death, his wife Nahid was with him in the room when Flynn tried inserting a Dobhoff feeding tube to provide nutrition. Nahid stated that she saw Flynn struggle trying to insert the tube. He said that the tube was not placed in the right place so removed it and reinserted it.
Nahid got worried as he saw Flynn struggle and asked to call a doctor, Flynn told her that he knew what he was doing and not to worry. At the end of the shift when another nurse replaced Flynn, Nahid informed him about what had transpired in the day. The nurse got an X-ray done which showed that the tube was inserted in Lahiji’s right lung instead of his stomach.
The second nurse pulled the tube out like pulling a nail out of a tire. This deflated Lahiji’s lung and he later died in terrible pain. The hospital tried to cover up for the incident and based on their conclusions the Los Angeles County coroner’s officials issued a death certificate stating Lahiji died from the subdural hematoma.
Arta Lahiji, daughter of Mansoor Lahiji, an internal medicine physician in New York at the time, pushed the local and state authorities to investigate as she believed it was a coverup and a case of medical negligence. After the complaint, the Coroner’s office secured Lahiji’s medical records that had a mention of the feeding tube was inserted. They changed his cause of death to “tension pneumothorax from nasogastric tube placement and replacement.”
A surprise inspection was conducted by the public health officials at the hospital, they recovered Flynn’s personnel records that revealed that inserting a feeding tube was not listed among his nursing “competencies”. He was not qualified to perform the procedure. Nahid Lahiji, wife of Mahsoor Lahiji filed a lawsuit suit against Flynn and the hospital.
The coroner’s reports and a jury verdict found that the insertion of a nasogastric tube into Lahiji’s lungs by Flynn caused his death on Oct. 2, 2014. She won the case and on March 2016, 2020, in a final action, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury in Beverly Hills found Little Company and Flynn liable for Mansoor Lahiji’s death.
It ordered the hospital to pay Nahid an amount of $20,645 to cover his funeral and burial expenses, and $1.5 million for her emotional loss. However, there is a cap on the noneconomic damages at $250,000 hence Judge Helen Zukin reduced compensation for emotional loss. Dr. Arta Lahiji said that it was scary that Flynn performed a procedure that was not his competency causing the death of her father.
She said it is not right that he is mentoring young nursing students when he himself doesn’t have a fundamental understanding of the subject. Even after unanimously winning the case against the hospital and Flynn, Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center was not ready to take responsibility and accept that medical negligence was the cause of Lahiji’s death.
Medical negligence or malpractice occurs when doctors or other medical professionals fail to perform their medical duties competently causing harm to their patients. The four D’s required to establish a case of medical malpractice or negligence are Duty, Deviation, Direct Causation and Damages.
If you believe that you or your loved one has been hurt or killed by a medical professionals’ negligence, our team of professional medical negligence lawyers at Khashan Law Firm can help you. Contact us at 951.461.2387 to set up a free and confidential consultation.