38-year-old Allison Guster of Chico appeared in a Butte County Courtroom Wednesday for her arraignment for the death of a hospital patient under her care.
The incident happened back in April of 2016 when 71-year-old Janna Adamson was recovering from surgery at Enloe Hospital. Adamson's doctor's orders for the nursing staff was to check the patient's oxygen levels at least every four hours. According to a District Attorney's Office press release, Guster allegedly only checked on Adamson once during her shift. Just before 4 am Adamson was found cold and unresponsive and dispite efforts to resuscitate her, Adamson was declared dead. An autopsy has determined Adamson died of pulmonary insufficiency, a condition which medical experts say would have been treatable if discovered in time. Guster reportedly falsified log entries on the number of times she checked on Adamson and the patient's pulse oximetry monitor had allegedly been turned off.
If convicted Guster could face 11 years in prison.
