Anesthesia Errors
When you go under the knife, most often it will be necessary for you to be incapacitated. To accomplish this a medical professional will put you under anesthesia so that you are not awake for the invasive procedure that you’re undergoing. Various forms of anesthesia have been used over the course of medical history, and the ones that are used today are quite advanced and are administered with great care. However, administering anesthesia is not always simple. A patient’s medical history needs to be considered, as do any medications that a patient might be taking. In addition to this, anesthesia must be administered in the proper way, as using too much or too little can lead to disastrous consequences. While not every anesthesia error that transpires rises to this level of medical practice, some do. When this is the case, a patient has the right to seek compensation by consulting with an experienced medical malpractice attorney, like those who are employed at Heavens Law.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
As in any other profession, medical professionals sometimes make mistakes. It’s simply impossible to expect any given professional to be perfect throughout the course of his or her career. However, when it comes to medical malpractice, perfection is not the standard that a medical professional is held to. Instead, that standard is determined by what is considered reasonable within their community. When a medical professional fails to meet this standard when administering care to a patient – when putting a patient under anesthesia, for example – then that constitutes medical malpractice.
More About Anesthesia Errors
Just as in any other kind of medical procedure, the administering of anesthesia is held to the same standard for medical malpractice. There are a variety of ways in which an anesthesia error can occur that would rise to this level:
- Not enough anesthesia is administered during surgery allowing a patient to wake up.
- Too much anesthesia was administered, leading to a variety of medical complications.
- The form of anesthesia administered conflicts with a medical condition that the patient is known to have.
- The form of anesthesia administered conflicts with medication that the patient is known to be taking.
- The risks of a specific form of anesthesia were not properly explained to the patient prior to its administration.
These are just examples of the most common anesthesia errors that rise to the level of medical malpractice, although other kinds of errors are possible. Regardless of the error though, improperly administered anesthesia can have lasting health effects. In cases where too much anesthesia has been administered, for example, the heart can actually stop thereby depriving the brain of oxygen. When this happens, traumatic brain injuries can happen, which can be quite debilitating, in some cases for the duration of a patient’s life. For this reason, anesthesia errors should not be taken lightly. If a medical professional’s negligence led to such an error, then a patient has right to bring suit in order to recoup damages and compensation. To do so, they will need to hire a medical malpractice attorney.
Heavens Law Employs the Very Best Medical Malpractice Attorneys
At Heavens Law, we’ve dealt with a number of cases that involve anesthesia errors. In those cases, we’ve examined the facts of the case, consulted with experts, and gotten our clients the compensation that they deserve. If you believe that you have been the victim of an anesthesia error that rises to the level of medical malpractice, then call us at 1-800-HEAV-LAW today. We’ll offer you a free consultation to review the facts of your case and make recommendations on how best to proceed with a suit.
