A Gonzaga Prep student died during a routine wisdom tooth removal. His family is suing to make sure it doesn’t happen again

Six months after 17-year-old Erik Edge died during a routine wisdom tooth removal, time stands still in the Edge house.

His dogs still wait for him to come home. His shoes sit in the kitchen. And his bedroom is just the way he left it after his dad dropped him off at Liberty Oral and Facial Surgery on June 24.

It was going to be quick, Mark Edge said. But as the minutes passed, his son never came out.

Instead, the business was suddenly swarmed with paramedics and firefighters. As Mark jumped from his car and ran inside, he fought with firefighters to let him go in the back to see his son. In a panic, he called his wife, Sara.

The couple watched in disbelief as paramedics performed CPR on Erik, over and over, in what Sara described as “traumatic.” They could not understand why their healthy, lively son was suddenly seconds from death because of a routine operation that millions of young Americans undergo each year.

“Something is wrong,” the firefighters told the Edge family. “It doesn’t look good.”

When an ambulance crew sped Erik to the hospital in hope of resuscitating him, it was too late. He had died from a common reaction to anesthesia, his mother said, which was “entirely preventable.”

The Edge family filed a lawsuit Monday alleging local oral surgeon Dr. Bryan McLelland could have prevented Erik’s reaction to anesthesia, but “failed to respond” in a timely manner. McLelland chose to “wear two hats” that day, the lawsuit says – playing both the role of an anesthesiologist and a surgeon in order to increase profits.

McLelland’s attorney, Steve Lamberson, gave a statement on behalf of his client Monday calling Erik’s death unfortunate and unforeseen.

“He and his staff have been deeply impacted but he followed safety protocols and met the standard of care,” Lamberson wrote in the statement. McLelland, he said, is prepared to defend his care and respond to the lawsuit.

Records from the Washington State Department of Health show McLelland is credentialed with a dentist’s license and a general anesthesia permit, which was renewed last year.

The day of Erik’s death, McLelland brought Erik’s wallet and other belongings to the hospital. He repeatedly told the family how much medication was given and how he wished he could trade places with Erik, Mark said. But at that moment, he was just staring at his son in shock.

“He was an incredible 17-year-old kid. He was our light, our sunshine, our person. He had great friends. He was in love for the first time. He was a hard worker,” Sara said. “He was just a really great human.”

Erik was a student at Gonzaga Prep and looking forward to his senior year. He talked about his future, too, like possibly attending Washington State University to become an engineer.

He was also the kind of kid who liked to fix up cars and trucks, his family said. He persevered, worked hard and spent three years saving up to buy a 2001 Ford Ranger because he “wanted to earn it,” Sara said.

“He took pride in that,” his mother said. “He had the best giggle, and he was just full of joy. Even if he was grumpy, he’d be grumpy for 10 minutes. He just lit up every room.”

His brother, Zack Edge, said his energy is what he’ll remember most. It was contagious, and he radiated “joy and positivity everywhere.”

“He never had a bad word to say about anybody or anything. He just lived his life and didn’t really care about the typical things teenagers care about, like material things,” Zack said. “He knew what was important and what mattered. He took care of people. I think that’s rare. He was just a good soul.”

When Erik went to Honduras three years ago as part of a project to work with Living Water International to place wells in villages that lack water, he just “fell in love with it,” his mother said. He brought toys, played with the children and yearned to better communicate with them. So when he got back to Washington, he learned to speak Spanish.

Erik never will make another trip to Honduras like he planned, but his family raised enough money to support what they refer to as “his legacy.”

“We’re putting a well in South Asia next year outside of the health clinic with his name on it. It’ll serve up to 4,000 people to start,” Sara said. “This isn’t fixable and it won’t bring Erik back … But it’s a way to honor him and his life.”

Grief is not linear, Erik’s parents say. They cry every day, but they also laugh every day.

Sara, who is a nurse practitioner, said if she had known there wasn’t going to be an anesthesiologist in the room that day, they would have never let their son inside. Her knowledge comes with her job, she said, but there are other parents who don’t know what to ask.

“Find out if there’s an expert, a well-qualified anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist on staff. Ask if there’s proper equipment in the room. Ask what kind of training the staff has. Do they practice for events like this?” Sara said. “Make sure the crash cart, if there is one, has equipment that’s up to date and not expired.”

The family’s attorney, George Ahrend, said the reaction that Erik had to the anesthesia is so common that experts prepare for it – that “if every anesthesiologist lost the patient when this complication happened, every anesthesiologist would have a long trail of bodies behind them in their career,” he said.

Ahrend, who is an attorney for Luvera Law Firm, added that it’s rare for someone to complete a surgery while administering, monitoring and responding to complications of anesthesia at the same time.

“This is something that was foreseeable, preventable and treatable,” he said. “Erik should have walked out that day.”