Anesthesia is a type of medicine that affects someone’s cognitive abilities, consciousness or pain sensations. Oftentimes, the goal of anesthesia is to render someone unconscious for the duration of a surgery or other painful medical procedure. Properly-administered anesthesia makes surgery feasible, as the pain and anxiety induced by such procedures could otherwise put someone in shock and endanger their life.
Unfortunately, anesthesia is also one of the biggest risks of any surgical procedure. Issues with anesthesia could lead to brain damage or even death. Individuals negatively affected by anesthesia administration and their family members may have questions about whether what occurred constitutes medical malpractice or not.
Malpractice involves professional failures
There are certain anesthesia risks that anesthesiologists can easily address. For example, it is possible to evaluate the likelihood of someone having an adverse reaction to certain types of anesthesia by analyzing their medical history and reviewing their family history. Other times, allergy testing might be a smart move, as an individual’s reaction to anesthesia can be unpredictable if they have never undergone surgery before.
Anesthesiologists should be proactive when evaluating risk factors before administering anesthesia. They should also be very careful during the administration process. They need to pay close attention to the medications they use and monitor the patient’s reaction. Common anesthesia errors include the disconnection of breathing circuits, mix-ups with medications, failure to review or seek necessary data and improper administration techniques.
Some anesthesia complications are truly unpredictable incidents that professionals cannot prevent. Others are the results of mistakes and oversights. For example, it is surprisingly common for doctors to mix up drugs when administering anesthesia. They might also improperly calculate the dosage based on someone’s sex, age and body weight. Other times, they might fail to monitor the patient’s reaction, possibly because they become distracted.
When the anesthesiologist does not carefully adhere to best practices, the people affected may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. If other anesthesiologists readily acknowledge that someone did not take the right actions or made a significant mistake, then a medical malpractice lawsuit might be an option. Typically, a mistake needs to cause harm, and that harm needs to lead to financial losses. Additional medical treatment, lost wages and funeral expenses are all examples of costs that might justify a medical malpractice issue.
As every case is unique, people generally need to consult with an outside medical professional or a lawyer to evaluate whether their circumstances justify taking legal action against an anesthesiologist following a poor surgical outcome.