Anesthesia Errors
What is an Anesthesia Error?
According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, anesthesia-related deaths in generally healthy individuals occur in approximately 1 in 250,000 cases. These anesthesia errors are largely preventable with current technology and diligent attention by the attending anesthesiologist.
Safe and adequate anesthesia is one of a patient's primary concerns when undergoing any procedure which requires sedation. Today there are many new medications that anesthesiologists may use to keep patients comfortable during surgical or other medical procedures. Technology has evolved as well, and anesthesiologists have access to sophisticated equipment which allows them to monitor a patient's oxygenation level and other vital parameters throughout surgery.
Errors may occur when the anesthesiologist fails to check his or her equipment, misuses the anesthesia equipment, or ignores the data provided by the anesthesia monitors. The most common errors are drug errors, mistakes in the administration of fluids, and misinterpretation of information from the monitoring equipment.
Some examples of anesthesia errors include the following:
- Neglecting to perform required safety checks on equipment
- Improper technique for intubation or nerve block placement
- Misuse of equipment
- Disregarding available data- for example, cardiac arrest under anesthesia care
- Failure to diagnose post-surgical hypoxia
- Failure to obtain appropriate data
- Failure to check criteria for extubation
- Undetected esophageal intubation, leading to brain damage or death from lack of oxygen
For additional examples of medical malpractice involving anesthesia errors that resulted in death, brain damage or catastrophic injury in cases handled by our law firm, please see Our Cases.
If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of an anesthesia error, contact us today. You can submit your case online, free of charge and with no obligation, through our Contact Form and we will promptly respond to you.
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