Every year more than 50 million surgeries are performed in the United States. It indicates how better and safe the anesthesia process has turned out to be. Even with the advancement of medical technology anesthesia errors occur, which can cause death or permanent injury.
Anesthesia helps to prevent pain and suffering during surgery. There are three types of anesthesia used in the medical field.
- Local anesthesia – For less invasive surgery, a specific body part gets numbed.
- General anesthesia – For major surgery, the patient is made completely unconscious.
- Regional anesthesia – A large body area gets anesthetized like the spinal and epidural block.
Common anesthesia errors
Preoperative errors
- Failure in educating the patient about possible procedure risk.
- Failure to review the patient’s medical history for possible issues.
- Failure in given patient pre-surgery instructions like fasting for specific hours before the surgery.
During surgery anesthesia errors
- Delay in anesthesia administration.
- Using too little or too much anesthesia.
- Using the wrong kind of anesthesia.
- Failing to administer monitor vital signs.
- Using defective equipment.
- Improper insertion of the intubation tube.
- Unsuccessful in identifying developing complications.
- Surgical team member operating under drug influence, during the procedure.
Post-surgery anesthesia errors
- Allowing the patient to stay sedated for long.
- Leaving the sedated patient unattended.
- Ignoring to talk about post-operative instructions with the patient.
Complications due to anesthesia errors
Complications can be temporary, severe, permanent, and fatal.
- Nausea & vomiting
- Confusion
- Intubation injuries
- Anaphylaxis
- Blood clots
- Nerve damage
- Stroke
- Respiratory problems
- Brain damage
- Heart attack
- Death
The damage due to an anesthesia mistake entitles you to make a medical malpractice claim. However, all kinds of medical errors are not regarded as malpractice, so if you reside near Florida, then contact the medical negligence lawyers at Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein, LLP. Proving the negligence of an anesthesiologist needs an experienced and skilled advocate, who will consider –
- The pre-surgical risk factors of anesthesia in your case.
- The operative notes of the anesthesiologist and the surgeon.
It will help the lawyer identify what went wrong during the surgery. There will also be a need to determine whether the anthologist or the hospital is liable for the patients worsening condition or death.
Hospital is liable for an anesthesia-related error when ……..
- The hospital employed the anesthesiologist. In legal terms, it is called ‘Vicarious Liability’.
- There was an anesthesia equipment failure, which caused the negligence.
- An independent anesthesiologist has hired then the hospital is liable for carelessly hiring and monitoring the anesthesiologist.
An independent anesthesiologist can be directly litigated but it is a complex legal problem. It involves exploring things like an agreement between the hospital and the anesthesiologist. How much does the hospital have control over the anesthesiologist’s job performance?
Generally, the more control hospital has over the anesthesiologist claiming to be an independent contractor then the more possibility you get of proving that the anesthesiologist was a real employee.
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Otherwise, the lawsuit will directly name the anesthesiologist as the defendant. It is a complicated issue, so contact a reputable medical malpractice attorney to represent you in the anesthesia-related medical malpractice claim.
