Kim Jones remains severely brain-damaged and in a comatose, vegetative state after undergoing routine tubal ligation surgery following childbirth at a medical center in Washington State. After the operation, hospital staff failed to notice that Kim had stopped breathing, since her vital sign monitors had been removed. Though successfully resuscitated, Kim suffered multiple seizures and was given seizure-control medication that worsened her condition. She was later taken by helicopter to another medical facility. Today, Kim is unable to control her bodily functions, has no discernable mental functions and is being cared for at a convalescent center. According to press reports, the anesthesiologist was impaired by narcotics he had been diverting from patients. The case, against the hospital and the anesthesiologist, was settled in March 2004.
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