About Anesthesia Malpractice

Since 1906, for over a century, the Powell family has helped victims of medical malpractice recover damages for their injuries. Properly litigating a professional malpractice case, ensuring that our clients complete and total recovery of their losses is always the first and foremost priority of the experienced personal injury and medical malpractice attorney Chris Powell.

Anesthesia malpractice may result from the commission of many different types of errors made by anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA), health care facilities, and hospitals. It is not uncommon for anesthesia malpractice to result in permanent injury, brain damage, or death.

Anesthesia is a pharmacologically induced state which allows patients to undergo medical procedures by blocking pain sensations. It protects patients from stress-induced complications that are caused by biological responses of the human body.

Anesthesiologists have the duty to refuse to participate in, and, therefore, prevent an operation that they feel is unnecessary or too dangerous under the circumstances. Anesthesiologists share a responsibility with the surgeon to ensure proper positioning of a patient during surgery. Anesthesiologists are also responsible for ensuring that the patient has fully recovered from the anesthesia and is safely ready for transfer or discharge.

Although there are several different types of anesthesia, some of the more general types of anesthesia include:

• Local anesthesia that is administered to a section of the patient's body to numb the area without rendering the patient unconscious.
• Regional anesthesia that affects a part of the patient's body, such as a leg or arm;
• General anesthesia that renders the patient unconscious;

When death occurs as a result of anesthesia malpractice, there is always a possibility that the incident will not completely or accurately be recollected in medical records. It is not always easy to discover an event where the patient is unconscious during all or most of it. Thus, the examination of medical records may not reveal the true circumstances of what happened before, during, and after surgery. Knowing what actually happened in the operating room is often not as elementary as it should seem. An experienced medical malpractice attorney may help uncover key and decisive facts in this situation.

Examples of anesthesia malpractice include:

• Administering the incorrect type of anesthesia;
• Administering the incorrect dose of anesthesia;
• Improper induction or failure to put a patient under anesthesia; and
• Failure to properly manage the administration of blood, fluids, and medications within the patient.