It almost seems like the plot of a horror movie: someone is prepped for a serious surgical procedure and is placed under general anesthesia, only to wake up during the operation to feel and see the operation, while experiencing excruciating pain of being operated on fully awake. But the truth is that there are mistakes that are made where the anesthesia given to the patient is the wrong dosage, wrong amount, or wrong anesthesia, which can allow for someone to wake up during an operation. This is a malpractice mistake, a neglect situation and a horrible surgical experience for a patient to have to undergo.
Why Are There Anesthesia Errors in the Healthcare Environment?
There are anesthesia errors that are made in regards to medication errors, from giving patients the proper anesthesia before, during and after a surgical procedure. The reasons for an anesthesia error can include:3
- Incompetence on the medical staff to properly give anesthesia to the patient during a surgical procedure
- The medical staff being inattentive to the anesthesia dose required for the patient before a surgical procedure
- A lack of communication between all hospital staff members regarding the patient’s proper levels of anesthesia before and during an surgery
- Mistakes with the patient data
- Wrong patient given anesthesia for patient’s weight, condition and surgery
- Patient given a substitute anesthesia
- Patient given incorrect dosage of anesthesia
- Equipment failure
- Technical accident
- Communication error
- Limitation of therapeutic standards
- Wrong diagnostic standards
- Wrong resources of blood products
- Wrong supervision for administering anesthesia
If you have had an accident and injury with someone in the healthcare environment not giving you enough anesthesia, you need to call our office immediately. We are here to answer your questions and review your personal injury claim with you right now.
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Anesthesiologists and Surgeons Often Speak About Patient Care in Different Terminology
Oftentimes an anesthesiologist and a surgeon are talking about the same patient, but are actually describing different types of care for the person undergoing a surgical procedure. An anesthesiologist has to deliver the anesthesia to the patient to keep the person alive and the patient’s organs viable and healthy for the entirety of the surgery, while the surgeon may be removing a tumor or organ from the patient to also keep the person healthy and alive in the long term.3 Unfortunately for the patient, there can be a disconnect in how the anesthesia is provided to the patient during the surgery, which means that these discrepancies will increase anesthesia-related deaths of patients well into the future.
Anesthesia Related Mistakes Can Kill a Patient in Dozens of Different Scenarios
If an anesthesia is delivered improperly during a surgical procedure, it can cause the patient to wake up prematurely during the operation. It can also create a crisis of pain for the patient, who will feel the effects of the surgical procedure from not having enough anesthesia administered during the operation. The wrong dosage of anesthesia can cause a patient to also become injured by the addition of the following conditions, such as:3
- Perioperative myocardial infarction
- Respiratory failure requiring reintubation after anesthesia
- Respiratory failure and bradycardia requiring further treatment
- Death from undetected esophageal intubation
- Respiratory failure and cardiac arrest
- Failed regional anesthesia
- Aspiration pneumonitis
- Cardiac arrest under anesthesia care
If your doctor or healthcare professional has made an anesthesia mistake with your healthcare or healthcare treatment plan, you can call our professional legal team today to review your claim with you. We will review all aspects of your claim for free, and can talk to you about your next steps to initiate a lawsuit based on the merits of your case.
“Help, I Experienced Waking Up in the Middle of a Surgery, What Are My Rights?”
If you woke up in the middle of your surgery because of being administered the wrong dosage of anesthesia, you have a right to initiate a lawsuit for medical malpractice and negligence against the at fault parties. It is true that an operating room can be an extremely stressful environment, but that does not give a pass to an anesthesiologist giving you the wrong medication or wrong dosage of anesthesia for your surgery. Of course, there would be standard protocols for the surgeon’s order to manage life support of the patient with anesthesia during an operation, and the anesthesiologist is there during the entire surgery to perform all safety checks, administer proper drugs and ensure the safety of the patient during the operation.2 Anytime that there is a perioperative error of the wrong administration of anesthesia, it is the fault of the doctor, surgeon, hospital or clinical staff, not the patient in those cases, and malpractice, negligence and other issues are at fault in that situation.
Anesthesia Records at a Healthcare Facility Need to Be Meticulously Maintained, or Errors Will Prevail
If the anesthesia records at the hospital facility where you had your surgical procedure were not meticulously maintained, then there will be a high risk of medication errors that will accompany surgical procedures requiring the patient to have general anesthesia. The anesthesiologist assisting during a surgical procedure needs to be confident and sure of the amount of anesthesia that is supposed to be given to the patient during the procedure. If the anesthesia and administration for any intravenous drugs are not recorded properly, there are lapses in responding to visual review of the patient during the procedure, or there is a high task and workload of the anesthesiologist, there is room for medication errors to occur at that facility.1
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Free Second Opinion Case Review / Experienced Lawyers in Anesthesia Errors
We can talk to you about your claim today when you call us, and our attorneys who specialize in personal injuries will go over your case with you for free. You are entitled to a free second opinion case review and we will answer all of your questions that you have regarding your claim. When you call us today, you can get the access you need to talk to our experienced attorneys in Los Angeles at the Normandie Law Firm.
Can I Sue for an Anesthesia Error and Waking Up in the Middle of My Surgery?
Yes, we can sue for an anesthesia malpractice claim against the at-fault medical personnel and hospital facilities responsible for your personal injuries. You can call us today to review your claim with you and talk directly to our Los Angeles case lawyers who can file a lawsuit for you based on the merits of your claim. Just call us at the Normandie Law Firm at 800.790.5422 today, and our case attorneys in Los Angeles can sue to get you the recovery compensation package that you deserve in this case.
Average Case Value of Anesthesia Errors and Personal Injuries
The average case value of anesthesia malpractice errors can vary from case to case. Your personal injury case can settle between $300,000 and over $3 million, depending on your personal injuries, damages, and expenses.
How Long Does It Take to Settle and to Get Paid on These Cases?
It can take 4-7 months to settle out and get paid on a case of anesthesia malpractice.
Statute Of Limitations – How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit?
The statute of limitations in California for personal injury lawsuit filing is two years. The statute of limitations in California for harassment and discrimination lawsuit filing is one year, with a two year timeframe to file for wrongful termination.
Call for a Free Consultation
You can call us today for a free consultation, and we will review your personal injury claim with you for free.
References
1Merry, A. F., Webster, C. S., Hannam, J., Mitchell, S. J., Henderson, R., Reid, P., … & Short, T. G. (2011). Multimodal system designed to reduce errors in recording and administration of drugs in anaesthesia: prospective randomised clinical evaluation. Bmj, 343.
2Nanji, K. C., Patel, A., Shaikh, S., Seger, D. L., & Bates, D. W. (2016). Evaluation of Perioperative Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events. Anesthesiology, 124(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000000904
3Rayan, A. A., Hemdan, S. E., & Shetaia, A. M. (2019). Root Cause Analysis of Blunders in Anesthesia. Anesthesia, Essays and Researches, 13(2), 193–198. https://doi.org/10.4103/aer.AER_47_19
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