Surgeons accused of leaving patients unattended on operating table while under anesthesia

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR/Gray News) - Three former employees from OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center traded the operating room for a conference room on Tuesday.

In their attorney’s office in Oak Brook, the women publicly shared their experiences at the Rockford hospital.

“It’s been really emotional. It still is,” Cindamon Proffitt, who served as operating room manager at Saint Anthony from 2018 through 2025, said. “It’s just hard. You want to do the right thing for the patients.”

Proffitt joined two other former operating room leaders at OSF in a lawsuit against the medical center: Sofia Gudino, previously an operating room manager, as well as Tina Peppers, a former director of surgical services.

“Every step that we took and measure that we took was to ensure that the outcomes of our patients were the best that they could be,” Gudino said.

Represented by Jeffrey Law Office, the trio alleges the hospital put profit and efficiency over patients’ health and safety. The 18-page suit lays out claims that neurosurgeons violated hospital policy and that OSF leadership ignored complaints from staff.

The lawsuit, brought by the Illinois Whistleblower Act, centers on a pair of neurosurgeons and their actions between 2023 and 2025, when the trio became aware of alleged “repeated and dangerous safety violations within the hospital’s neurosurgery service line.”

“We had a new group come in for our neuro providers,” Peppers noted. “They were struggling a little bit to follow rules.”

An example from the former employees included patients reportedly being left unattended on the operating table while under anesthesia.

On Feb. 3, 2025, a surgeon allegedly left a patient for nearly an hour; on April 17, 2025, another doctor departed the operating room and induced the patient for a meeting, which lasted 37 minutes.

“The patient was asleep. They can’t advocate for themselves,” Proffitt said. She mentioned that the longer a patient stays on anesthesia, the higher the risk for postoperative complications.

The trio also says patients paid for this unattended time on their bills, possibly without knowing a surgeon wasn’t in the room for a period.

“They’re being billed for that time by the minute,” Proffitt said. “Efficiency is important, but patient safety is number one.”

Another concern for the OR staff appeared on Oct. 12, 2023. The trio said a surgeon was found asleep against a surgical microscope just before an operation was to begin.

Peppers allegedly warned a chief medical officer of the danger of proceeding, but the surgery continued.

“This was an elective procedure, not emergent in any way,” Peppers said.

According to the lawsuit, other safety concerns include:

• Failure to complete surgical counts and breaches of sterile technique.
• Hostile and erratic behavior by neurosurgeons that jeopardized staff safety.
• Improper use of unapproved medical equipment (synaptive tractography system).
• Intimidation of nursing staff who questioned unsafe practice.

The women asserted they reported these incidents and behaviors to hospital leadership through “multiple channels,” such as incident reports, the hospital’s integrity line, emails and verbal reporting.

“Despite repeated reports, no investigations were initiated, no corrective actions taken, and the unsafe behavior continued,” the lawsuit read. “In fact, instead of corrective measures, Defendant retaliated against Plaintiffs, warning them to stop filing reports and assigning them disproportionate neuro-only duties.”

The women say most of their reporting went disregarded, but Peppers mentioned one response from her boss.

“His response to me exactly was, ‘We can’t afford to lose another surgeon,’” she shared.

The women described an alleged lack of responses as deflating their faith in the hospital and medical care.

“I got very stressed because I felt like I couldn’t protect my frontline staff. I felt like I couldn’t protect my managers. I felt like I didn’t have a voice in keeping my patients safe,” Peppers said.

Before these alleged incidents, Gudino saw OSF’s values as “to take care of patients as if those patients are your loved ones that are on the table.”

She says that without responses from hospital leadership, she struggled to believe in that practice.

“Anything that seems that it’s off in any sense of the word, we should always follow up on so that you can make it better for the next patient that’s in there,” Gudino said.

By May 2025, the trio left their positions at Saint Anthony. All but one of the women remain in the medical field.

Proffitt’s experience trying to find a new career brought her to tears.

“I’ve applied to over 34 positions. I have two Bachelor’s degrees. I have a master’s, and it’s just been really difficult,” Proffit said.

The women mentioned claims of sexual harassment also prompted an environment that “became intolerably hostile,” with them being verbally abused and ostracized, with supportive staff warned to stay silent.

“They were forced out as a result of the management there at OSF,” Attorney Antonio Jeffrey, who represents the former employees, said. When asked what justice looks like in this case, the attorney hoped for change at OSF.

“It’s about ensuring public safety,” he said.

Jeffrey shared that his clients are owed millions of dollars in damages following their reported experiences.

“I want every patient out there to know that we always fought for them,” Gudino said.

OSF representatives declined to comment on the situation.

The former staff members added that, to their knowledge, patients who may have been left unattended on anesthesia may not be aware they were ever a part of this ordeal.