Family sues UK Chandler Hospital over death of Singletary Center’s founding director

The family of the founding director of the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center, who died days after elective surgery in 2018, has sued the university’s hospital.

Holly Buckner Salisbury, 74, died on July 28, 2018, four days after she underwent hernia repair surgery at the University of Kentucky Healthcare’s Good Samaritan Hospital, according to a lawsuit filed in August. Salisbury ran the university’s center for the arts from its opening in 1979 to her retirement in 2005, and her significant contributions to local arts were celebrated after her death.

Salisbury died after she “nearly bled out and became septic” from an iliac vein injury from a catheter that was used to warm her up after a gastric artery was damaged during the July 24, 2018, surgery, according to the lawsuit. The injury to the iliac vein happened after Salisbury was taken to an intensive care unit at UK’s Chandler Hospital.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Salisbury’s daughter, names the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, the University of Kentucky, and doctors Henrik Berdel, Oscar Moreno-Ponte, Heather Frohman-Sinner, Kyle Bess and Shyanie Kumar as defendants.

The lawsuit calls for punitive damages and money to cover the cost of medical bills, funeral bills, loss of income and loss of Social Security benefits. It also accuses the hospital and multiple doctors of causing Salisbury physical and mental suffering.

Salisbury’s gastric artery was damaged during the initial hernia repair, and a few hours after the first surgery, a doctor began a procedure to control the bleeding, according to the lawsuit.

After the second procedure, Salisbury was transferred by ambulance to the ICU at UK’s Chandler Hospital, where Frohman-Sinner noted she was “extremely cool to the touch, but no temperature probe was available to assess hypothermia,” according to the lawsuit. Salisbury was then taken in for a “mass transfusion” and resuscitation.

In an effort to warm Salisbury back up, doctors used a “Bear hugger,” a heat lamp, and an intravascular heat exchange catheter, called the “Thermaguard catheter,” according to the lawsuit.

The catheter was placed, and there were complications causing an iliac vein injury, according to the lawsuit. The damage caused “hemorrhagic shock” and Salisbury was taken back to the operating room, where her iliac artery and vein were found to be bleeding profusely.

A vascular surgeon was called in, and it was discovered the vein injury was caused by the catheter, which was placed by Bess, with assistance from Kumar and at the direction of Berdel, Moreno-Ponte “and/or” Frohman-Singer, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the Thermaguard catheter was used in a way that has not been approved by the FDA.

The lawsuit accuses the five doctors involved of being negligent and breaching the standard of care. The University of Kentucky does not comment on ongoing litigation, spokesman Jay Blanton said Tuesday.

Salisbury’s family is not suing the surgeon who performed the initial hernia repair. Injuries to the gastric artery are a known risk of hernia repair surgery, said Bo Bolus, the attorney for the family. Bolus also said he is in communication with UK, but that the university has not said whether or not it is willing to settle the case rather than go to a trial.

While Bolus said he believes the doctors involved were trying to do the right thing, he also thinks the catheter was misused. More experienced attending physicians should have inserted the catheter instead of instructing residents to do it.

Salisbury was known for bringing famous artists musicians to the Singletary Center, and for building a vibrant community within the center for the arts.

“Throughout her life she represented the epitome of the Renaissance spirit; she lifted up and encouraged artists and the arts in every dimension across Lexington and Central Kentucky for decades,” former Mayor Jim Gray said.

This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 5:15 PM.