The family of a Colorado man who died during routine cataract surgery in 2023 has settled a lawsuit with the doctors blamed for his death.

As reported by KUSA, a local NBC affiliate, 56-year-old Bart Writer was undergoing a standard surgery to address cataracts on February 3, 2023, at the InSight Surgery Center in Lone Tree, near Denver. The procedure was led by Dr. C. Starck Johnson, a surgeon familiar with the patient for several years, with anesthesiologist Dr. Michael Urban assisting. This very typical surgery was expected to last around 10 minutes.

It was so routine that the medical team told Bart Writer”s wife, Chris Writer, that she could leave the facility to run errands if she wished.

While Chris Writer was nearby the facility, she received a call from Johnson, requesting her to meet him in the parking lot. Upon arriving, she recounted to KUSA that Johnson asked whether she had a belief in God.

The lawsuit, accessed by KUSA, claims that Bart Writer’s vital signs turned “abnormal” 11 minutes into the surgery. However, it indicated that although Bart Writer was connected to numerous monitors equipped with alarms for abnormal readings, “[n]o one in the operating room ensured that the audible tones, signals, and alarms were turned on and audible prior to the start of the procedure.”

When Bart Writer began experiencing respiratory distress, the lawsuit stated that Johnson and Urban were engaged in a game of “music bingo.” According to KUSA’s reporting on deposition statements made by both doctors, the game was based off of a playlist played from Urban’s cell phone, which included songs from the 1970s and 1980s. Bands and musicians were identified by the first letter of their first names — e.g., the Bee Gees were letter “B,” Gladys Knight was letter “G.” And the goal was to be the first to spell “BINGO.”

Urban, who was the only person in the operating room able to see Bart Writer’s readings, was the one keeping score during that day’s “music bingo” game.

Bart Writer, who was covered during surgery from the head down, had started turning blue from lack of oxygen. By the time he was taken to a hospital nearby, it was too late to save him. He was pronounced dead at the hospital; the cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest.

Chris Writer told KUSA, “They just didn’t pay attention. Maybe they do so many of these surgeries that it just becomes so routine. I’m just infuriated.” She had received a tip from an unnamed doctor — who was not in the operating room — after her husband’s death that Johnson and Urban were known to play their “music bingo” game during surgical procedures.

The grieving widow hired attorneys to question both doctors, who admitted in recorded depositions — also obtained by KUSA — to playing the game while they operated on Bart Writer

Chris Writer sued Johnson, who seemed to throw his former “music bingo” playmate under the bus. In a statement to KUSA, he blamed Urban — with whom he said he performed 8,000 cataract surgeries — “for decisions that violated proper protocol.”

Johnson’s attorney told KUSA, “Dr. Johnson relies on the anesthesiologist to provide the proper dose and type of anesthesia, to properly monitor the patient’s condition, and to communicate all relevant information to the surgeon including if they have elected, for whatever reason, to silence the audible alarms. During the cataract surgery, Dr. Johnson is looking through a microscope for the entire procedure. Therefore, he must rely on the surgical team for many aspects of surgical care.”

He added, “Nothing in Dr. Johnson’s experience would explain, justify or have predicted Dr. Urban’s decisions on that day.”

Urban responded to the statement through his attorney who told KUSA that “Dr. Urban stands by his care and treatment of Mr. Writer and disagrees with the surgeon’s characterizations of the events of that day, which we understand are in the context of contentious litigation. He is nonetheless very sympathetic towards Ms. Writer and her loss.”

He no longer works at InSight Surgery Center after moving out of the state.

KUSA reported that Chris Writer and Johnson settled for an undisclosed amount.