Katherine Crawford was admitted to Westlake Community Hospital for shortness of breath and hypotension following an arterial venous fistula repair surgery of Sept. 17, 2005. She was 38 years old and was an end-stage renal disease patient. Crawford had been on dialysis for 11 years. Her medical history also included COPD, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic hypotension, hypertension and pulmonary hypertension.
The defendant internist, Dr. Karim Yunez, was the attending physician for the hospitalization of Sept. 17, 2005 and had previously treated Crawford during prior admissions to the hospital.
The defendant nephrologist, Dr. Constantine Dellis, was consulted to handle the patient’s dialysis needs during her hospitalization.