Husband files lawsuit, claims wife died from opioid overdose following tummy-tuck surgery

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) - A husband has filed a lawsuit against a surgery center and other defendants, alleging his wife died from an opioid overdose administered by nurses following a cosmetic procedure and that the facility later altered medical records to conceal the cause of death.

Rachel Tussey, 40, died March 17, three weeks after undergoing a tummy tuck and liposuction at JourneyLite Surgery Center on Feb. 25.

The lawsuit, filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court by her husband, Jeremy Tussey, claims nurses gave her 150 micrograms of fentanyl and 1 milligram of Dilaudid within 37 minutes after surgery.

The JourneyLite Surgery Center and Associated Anesthesiologists of Springfield are among those listed in the lawsuit.

According to the 66-page complaint, the post-operative fentanyl dose exceeded the total amount Rachel Tussey received during her entire nine-hour surgery.

The lawsuit alleges Rachel Tussey was alert and talking with her husband and medical staff when nurses administered the medications. Minutes later, she became unresponsive, her lips turned blue, and she went into cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Jeremy Tussey was at his wife’s bedside and witnessed the events, according to the complaint.

Anesthesia team had left facility

According to the complaint, the anesthesia team and surgeon had already left the facility when Rachel Tussey coded. Nurses called 911 at 5:59 p.m., nine minutes after she became unresponsive.

Emergency medical services arrived at 6:02 p.m. and reached Rachel Tussey’s bedside at 6:04 p.m. The lawsuit states she had been without oxygen for more than six minutes.

EMS personnel performed CPR in the parking lot and transported Rachel Tussey to Bethesda North Hospital, according to the lawsuit. She remained on a ventilator in intensive care until March 7, when she was transferred to hospice.

An MRI performed on March 3 showed “irreversible brain damage from oxygen deprivation,” according to the complaint.

Allegations of altered records

The lawsuit alleges JourneyLite Surgery Center altered Rachel Tussey’s medical records after her death, changing medication dosages and administration times. The complaint states that facility administrators asked the surgeon to alter his operative notes, which he refused to do twice.

According to the lawsuit, the identity of a second nurse involved in Rachel Tussey’s care was scrubbed from all medical records. The complaint identifies this person as “Jane Doe Nurse No. 1” and alleges she had been previously fired from JourneyLite for incompetence before being rehired.

The lawsuit states a JourneyLite employee sent an email about “purging files” on March 17, the same day Rachel Tussey died.

“Upon information and belief, the direction to ‘purge’ JourneyLite files came from Defendants Trace W. Curry, M.D., Kurtis W. Martin, M.D., Lisa A. Sprong, Tracy R. Evans, RN, and/or John Doe Corporation Nos. 1-10, all of which exercised control over JourneyLite’s internal operations, including but not limited to record-keeping,” according to the lawsuit.

Prior safety concerns cited

The complaint alleges a whistleblower anesthesiologist warned JourneyLite management in 2020 and 2021 about patient safety issues, including inadequate post-anesthesia care unit staffing and lack of emergency equipment.

According to the lawsuit, the whistleblower wrote he could not be confident that post-anesthesia care unit staff could handle airway problems and that the anesthesia staffing model left high-risk patients without an anesthesiologist to cover post-anesthesia care.

The complaint states JourneyLite failed to have a nurse certified in advanced cardiac life support present in the recovery room and did not have adequate emergency equipment, including a crash cart.

Before Rachel Tussey’s procedure, the same safety concerns brought forth by the whistleblower nearly led to another tragedy, according to the lawsuit.

Dr. Martin, the JourneyLite co-owner, was performing plastic surgery when an airway obstruction happened, the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, an anesthesia provider was unavailable at JourneyLite, so the patient had to be taken to the hospital.

“Instead of taking proactive steps to address the whistleblower’s concerns about patient safety, JourneyLite carefully crafted a public image of a surgical center capable of surgical and post-anesthesia care, when in reality JourneyLite’s actual capabilities fell well short,” The lawsuit continued.

Jeremy Tussey did not find out about the concerns raised by the whistleblower until after his wife’s death, the lawsuit claims.

Social media following

Rachel Tussey maintained a TikTok account with more than 80,000 followers where she documented her self-improvement journey. She posted about the surgery on the morning of the procedure, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint describes her as a wife, mother of three and office manager at Rembrandt Roofing and Restoration.

Defendants and claims

The lawsuit names 11 defendants, including facility administrators, nurses and anesthesia providers.

The six-count complaint alleges medical negligence, negligent hiring and retention, spoliation of evidence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.

Jeremy Tussey seeks compensatory damages exceeding $25,000 per claim, punitive damages and attorney fees. The lawsuit demands a jury trial.

Mike Lyon at the Lindhorst firm is representing Associated Anesthesiologists of Springfield and CRNAs.

“We have had the case reviewed by excellent experts and we are comfortable with the care and treatment delivered. We all feel terrible about what this family has to go through, but that does not mean we feel responsible for her death,” Lyon shared in a statement.

Plastic surgeon files lawsuit

Dr. Shahryar Tork, Rachel Tussey’s surgeon, is also suing JourneyLite Surgery Center and Associated Anesthesiologists of Springfield. His lawsuit makes the same allegations as Jeremy Tussey’s.

Following Tork’s lawsuit, JourneyLite denied the allegations and released the following statement:

“It is unfortunate and somewhat shocking that Dr. Tork claims to be the victim here, apparently due to the loss of his reputation in a case where the Tussey family tragically lost Rachel.

Journey Lite had Ms. Tussey’s chart reviewed independently by a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and a Board Certified Forensic Pathologist. With regards to the medications given in the PACU by the Journey Lite nurses, the doses of Fentanyl and Dilaudid were 100% appropriate and administered within the standard of care. Anesthesia experts describe 100 micrograms of Fentanyl as “baby doses” and appropriate for pain relief. Further, her sudden unresponsiveness in the PACU was not opioid related, as multiple doses of Narcan administered to Ms. Tussey had no effect whatsoever.

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy audited Journey Lite’s medication records and Ms. Tussey’s chart in the aftermath of this case and found no evidence of any errors or wrongdoing.

Journey Lite made multiple requests to the Tussey family through their family attorney that an autopsy be conducted after Rachel’s passing so that the cause of death could be determined. The family refused our requests, so the true cause of her death will likely never be known. Pathology experts will opine that 50-60% of suspicious deaths later turn out to be “Sudden Cardiac Death,” which is not a myocardial infarction. Pulmonary embolism or fat embolism cannot be ruled out, as the CPR chest compressions will break up and move any clot to the peripheral vessels. Journey Lite conveyed all of these potential causes to the Tussey family through their attorney, but the family again refused to allow an autopsy.

Both PACU nurses staffed at Journey Lite had years of experience, were ACLS certified, former ER nurses in the local Cincinnati hospital Emergency Rooms, and had participated in hundreds of codes. They both undertook heroic measures to try to save Rachel’s life.

Journey Lite flatly denies that any records were altered or purged and any allegations that they attempted to “cover up” Rachel’s case are false and defamatory.”