Forms of Anesthesia Errors That May Constitute Medical Malpractice

Anesthesia errors can cause serious risks to your health. The risk and severity depend on several factors including the severity of your illness. If an error occurs due to a person's negligence, then it may be a case of medical negligence. This means you may be entitled to some compensation. Anesthesia errors can take different forms such as the following.

Delayed Delivery

General anesthesia doesn't act instantaneously. Doctors and anesthesiologists know when to administer the drugs so that your body is ready by the time your treatment begins. Unfortunately, an error may occur and delay the delivery of the drug to your system. For example, if the IV isn't properly inserted or isn't as straight as it should be, then the drugs will not get into your body in time. That means you may feel incredible pain and awareness while being operated upon.

Dosage Error

Both lower and higher anesthesia dosages are not good for your well-being. For example, anesthesia overdose can decrease your blood pressure to extremely low levels. In fact, some patients may even die from this complication. Fortunately, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low – less than ten people per million of those who receive anesthesia die. Dosage errors occur due to a variety of reasons. For example, the National Institute of Health cites poor syringe labeling as one of the potential sources of these errors.

Poor Monitoring

The work of the anesthesiologist isn't done after he or she has administered the drug. He or she needs to monitor the patient throughout the treatment period. The monitoring is necessary to gauge

  • The patients level of consciousness
  • Signs of distress
  • Possible allergic reactions

This is necessary because people have different reactions to anesthesia. Some people are allergic to the concoction of drugs that make up the general anesthesia. What is more, what may seem a safe dosage for one person may be an overdose for you.

Poor Intubation

Intubation involves inserting a tube into your airway to assist you with breathing when you are under anesthesia. It is necessary because anesthesia paralyzes all your body's muscles, including the ones responsible for breathing. If this tube is wrongly inserted, then it may cause physical injuries to your respiratory airway or even interfere with your breathing.

As you can see, anesthesia errors can take many different forms. Obviously, the first thing to do (if you suspect an error) is to contact your doctors and remedy the situation as soon as possible. After that, you need to consult a personal injury lawyer like Owen Law Firm to evaluate your case and determine whether you are entitled to any compensation.


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