Colorado doctor refused to call 911, start CPR before man’s death, indictment says

Colorado doctor refused to call 911, start CPR before man’s death, indictment says

Michael John Urban is charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide in the death of Bartlett Writer

A metro Denver anesthesiologist is charged with reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for a series of decisions that led to a patient’s death during cataract surgery, including refusing to call 911 or start CPR when the man’s heart stopped, according to a grand jury indictment.

Michael John Urban, 68, was indicted on the two felony charges for his actions during a Feb. 3, 2023, procedure at an outpatient surgery center in Lone Tree, which a doctor unconnected to the case told the Douglas County grand jury amounted to “malpractice to the nth degree.”

Witnesses described a series of abnormal, concerning decisions Urban made before and during the surgery on 56-year-old Bartlett Writer, who underwent a cataract surgery with no complications the year before, according to an indictment filed in January in Douglas County District Court.

Urban had already given Writer an extra dose of anesthesia before the surgeon came into the room, an action witnesses said was unusual because medical staff normally wait to see how a patient reacts to anesthesia before administering more.

Urban also used a combination of fentanyl and Versed, which is known to cause patients to stop breathing and have low blood oxygen and requires careful monitoring, according to a 1990 study in the medical journal Anesthesiology. Writer’s anesthesiologist for his previous cataract surgery used propofol.

Eleven minutes into the surgery, Urban told the surgeon Writer was “sleepy,” that Urban needed to adjust the patient’s jaw because his airway was obstructed and would need to administer naloxone to reverse the anesthesia.

But Urban told the surgeon he could finish the procedure first.

Witnesses told the grand jury they did not hear any alarms from machines monitoring Writer’s blood oxygen, blood pressure and heart rate, and that Urban was known to silence the machines during other surgeries, which is not a common practice.

Urban was also playing “music bingo” with the surgeon during the procedure, which involved playing music on Urban’s phone through a wireless speaker and Urban keeping “score” on a whiteboard, according to the indictment.

By the time the surgeon finished the procedure and lifted the surgical draping, Writer’s skin was blue from lack of oxygen.

Surgical nurses then tried to check Writer’s pulse and found he didn’t have one, though Urban insisted he did have a pulse.

Urban also told the nurses not to start chest compressions or call 911, which they did against his instructions, witnesses told the grand jury.

Writer was taken by ambulance to HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge, where he was pronounced dead.

In a meeting at the surgical center after the procedure, Urban told colleagues that the “patient must have held his breath,” according to the indictment.

The Douglas County Coroner’s Office found Writer died from a lack of oxygen to his brain after his heart stopped during the surgery.

Urban is set to appear in court on May 11 for an arraignment, court records show. He was released from jail on a $20,000 bail. An attorney for Urban did not respond to a request for comment.