Co-Worker Ablation Death

I am both shocked and saddened to report a co-worker passed away from an Ablation. He was in his 50's and it was to be an outpatient, normal "procedure." We worked together for 7 years but he worked in a different area of the company. Although he knew about my heart surgery and ablation, he never asked me about it nor told me about his Afib or scheduled ablation. I heard about it months ago through a different co-worker he was closer with. He went into Los Robles last week, I believe on the 17th, for the ablation and was to be released the same day. I am still getting information but something happened during the ablation where he had severe bleeding and his heart ended up stopping multiple times. This ended up causing brain damage. He was on life support the last several days and I just found out he was declared 100% brain dead today.

This is both tragic and saddening. His family is devastated and the doctor was too. The doctor told the family this is the first time this has ever happened to him. I know Dr. Natale works out of Los Robles a few days a month, but I don't believe it was Natale that did the ablation. I am not certain of that, but I do want to find out the doctor and get more details of exactly what happened. I have read and heard about "AEF". I don't know if anything like this has happened to any member of this forum, but it's definitely eye-opening and terrible. Again, I don't know all of his details, but I do know it was outpatient and completely devastating.

We should all take a moment to appreciate our successful ablations, procedures, surgeries and be VERY THANKFUL.

I like to comment my sadness of his death.

I had problems at Los Robles. I went straight to the icu where the icu doctor told me to make my funeral arrangements. I know of another patient as well. I’m sure this could and unfortunately may happen at any hospital with any procedure, I recommend taking a flight to Austin where Dr N had recommended to me because he felt he has state of the art equipment in Austin to be successful.

Also Austin has many NP on call vs only one NP at Los Robles which is important during weekends, holidays and evenings.

I did see a substitute randomly selected EP during one of my admissions. He was trying to push a watchman on me (I’m grateful I waited for Natale). I asked him if any of his patients died (I ask that a lot). He said ge doesn’t do watchman procedures anymore because he ripped a few patients hearts. I am curious who was the EP because many do ablations at Los Robles…and if it was the same EP.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2025 03:09AM by susan.d.

I am really sorry about your coworker. That is shocking, and so sad for everyone involved. Please accept my condolences.

That is awful about your coworker.

Around 15 years ago, Moderator Shannon's sister, Bonnie, had (I believe) a tamponade during an ablation for long standing persistent afib, in Houston, TX. This outcome caused Bonnie to be bedridden for the rest of her life (9 years). It was during a time that Shannon was living out ot the US, so he didn't know she was having the procedure till after it happened. I believe he'd previously suggested she go to Dr. Natale, but she didn't follow that advice. This is Shannon's post after she passed: [www.afibbers.org]

In the mid 2000's, we had a member (a cardiac nurse) who'd had an issue during an ablation at a well known facility in Baltimore, MD, with a well known EP. The issue was that a fellow was threading the catheter and (from memory) the EP was out of the room while the fellow was doing this. The fellow caught the catheter on a valve and ripped it. There may have been a tamponade in this case as well. The ablation was obviously stopped and this was very negatively life changing for the member. There was even a book written about this case & perhaps a lawsuit. One lesson is to always determine ahead of time whose hands are going to be doing the work. This can be an issue at teaching hospitals.

I am so sorry to read this morning about the passing of your co-worker. Condolences to you, his family and friends.

I think ablations are scary. I haven't had one YET, probably more intense fear since they almost lost my Mother "on the table" during her ovarian cancer surgery, which she still passed in less than 2 months, total time from diagnosis to death. But I think that is causing me to have a huge fear of what the EP presents as a relatively common procedure with the caveat of a small percentage of worst of worst outcomes for an outpatient procedure.

Thanks for the comments. Everyone at work is in shock and disbelief. What's even more sad is he has kids and grandkids and one of his grandkids has cancer. He would leave work every Wednesday to take them to treatment. This really is shocking and tragic. I talked to him at work regarding work the the day before he went in for the ablation but had no idea as he never mentioned it to me.

We had an excellent working relationship. He knew about my situation as I had no issues discussing it or sharing. He just never mentioned his afib and scheduled ablation to me. I heard about it from another Co worker he was close with a outside of work. It's too early, but there is a coworker who is actually a family member of his and when the time Is right I will ask about who the doctor was. It's just tragic because you couldn't see a thing wrong with him physically and he expected to be back to work in two days. The whole thing is just tragic. I know we all go at some point and the next day isn't guaranteed but man, to think this guy could of likely gone a VERY LONG time in afib to go for a procedure to feel better and to die from it... And me talking to him the day before clueless he was going in and now never seeing him again is abysmal.

Again, we all should be VERY THANKFUL. I'm realizing the wording UNSUCCESSFUL ABLATION isn't accurate if one isn't in NSR afterwards. If your alive and well afterwards, the ablation was very successful.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2025 03:39PM by cornerbax.

[Not to make this about me, but ....]

As somebody who is terminally ill as a result of a verry rare adverse drug reaction and a verrry rare consequent heart problem ... this hits pretty close to home.

I join the others in offering my deepest condolences to those he left behind ... including you, @cornerbax.

Just awful to hear. You truly never do know.....

@NBEENER,

I hope you are alright. Are you able to recover/reverse whatever it is the medication caused?

My condolences, cornerbax. Something obviously went disastrously wrong and it must be devastating to his family, friends, coworkers, and even the EP.

I just hope that anyone out there considering an ablation understands how rare this outcome is. It probably compares with your risk of being killed in an auto accident on the way to the procedure.

Thank you, Carey. The EP was extremely shaken and said this has never happened to them. This is from a co-worker who is family. I can't just go ask the name of the EP right now but I will next week and I will find out. I can provide my co-workers name but would prefer to not do so unless it's via PM and only if it would help get more info.

I would think since this is so rare maybe a fellow was involved or an EP who wasn't as seasoned? Would you think the EP physicians would know about this at other hospitals and facilities since it's so rare? I have a follow up appt with my EP next week and I am thinking they may of already heard about this death at Cedars even though it occurred at los Robles? The fact that I talked to him the day before is what makes this seem so unreal.

Definitely don't post any names, and think twice before providing them even in PMs. Does anyone really need to know? I would love to know what actually happened, so feel free to explain if you find out, but we won't engage in blame assignment.

My guess would be the EP was perfectly competent and had performed hundreds or thousands of ablations before without issue, but shit happens, you know? It's part of being a doctor. It's going to happen eventually even to the best. Los Robles is a teaching hospital so it's possible it was a fellow, but if it was that's even more devastating for them.

I will take your advice and won't post any names. I know Dr. Natale does ablations out of Los Robles but I'd be STUNNED if he were the EP. I'm sure he wasn't but he does 100% know about this situation one way or another.

There are things I heard that make me feel los Robles was covering up for whatever it is that happened. One of which was his heart stopped 4 times yet they told the family the next day his' echo'was great all the while having no brain activity. I will post more as I hear it but from what I've already heard there is a cover up. This is almost movie like but it isn't. It's reality and it's happened.

Quote
GeorgeN
That is awful about your coworker.
......

This can be an issue at teaching hospitals.

Condolences to cornerbax's co-worker and all affected.

My first ablation was with a well-known EP at a teaching hospital. It lasted 11hrs 47mins. I was a mess. Through the kindness of a stranger here and Shannon, I was fixed 6 weeks later in Austin. At the elite level things happen too, but are so much less likely.

So sorry Cornerbax to hear this sad news. Yes, we should be grateful for the life we still have left and the opportunities it gives us to contribute, whether it be to increase our knowledge, create art, put our heart into whatever we do and try to help others. Your colleague is in our prayers

This is tragic, I'm so very sorry.
And also worried. I don't know if this is relevant but I asked my EP about a bad outcome I'd heard of (someone's heart being nicked) and he said that in some institutions, if a patient's a-fib is judged as being especially hard to control they take a very aggressive approach to the procedure, and that makes injuries more likely to happen. (Although of course he can't know what happened based on what I told him.) He assured me that he and the other EPs at his institution don't have that approach -- if a situation seems beyond what can readily be fixed, they will stop the ablation.
That was reassuring to me until I read this post!
To Cornerbax, what a huge loss to this man's family, community, and coworkers, and definitely to you. I'm really sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2025 12:12AM by Drummer.