A Santa Fe woman and her husband are suing Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, claiming she almost died because no one was monitoring her while she was taking painkillers.

According to the medical malpractice complaint filed Dec. 20 in state District Court, Zelda Jiron was taken to the hospital's emergency room on May 15, 2010, because of severe abdominal pain, admitted as a patient and intravenously given the painkiller Dilaudid.

On the following day, the complaint says, Jiron vomited and her pain got worse, but a nurse found nothing irregular and continued giving her Dilaudid. The suit says her husband and daughter went to the cafeteria late that afternoon and during their absence, a physician's assistant checked on Jiron, found her sleeping soundly and left without examining her.

When her husband, Simon Jiron, returned to the room, he found her arms twitching, her face purple, foam coming from her mouth and her eyes rolled back, the complaint says.

"Simon began to yell for help, and a nurse rushed in, loudly summoning other nurses, and declaring 'Code Blue,' " it says. "When Ms. Jiron regained consciousness, one of the Christus staff told Simon, 'Two more minutes like that and she's gone!' "

The complaint says the staff should have known that people who are "morbidly obese," like Zelda Jiron, often have obstructive sleep apnea that reduces blood-oxygen levels during sleep and is aggravated by "any narcotic analgesic medication, including Dilaudid."

"The physicians who ordered Dilaudid to treat her severe pain had a duty to insure that the nurses who cared for Ms. Jiron closely monitored her respiratory and neurological status and Christus had a duty to insure that it appropriately trained its personnel ... to monitor patients in such circumstances," the complaint says.

As a result of "cardio-pulmonary arrest" that Jiron describes as a "near death experience," says the complaint, she has "severe, ongoing emotional problems" and has been unable to return to her job as a tax examiner for the state.

Lawyer Linda Hemphill, who filed the complaint, seeks compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of Zelda and Simon Jiron. A hospital spokesman declined comment on the pending litigation.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.