Imagine waking up during your surgery, fully aware and completely paralyzed. This scenario may seem like it’s straight out of a horror movie, but it happened to a man in real life. Unfortunately, anesthesia errors are not a one-time occurrence, either.
In addition to providing too little medication, anesthesiologists sometimes cause drug overdoses, numb the wrong body part, or fail to recognize serious allergies.
These mistakes can cause a myriad of horrifying situations and sometimes lead to fatalities.
The Good News
If you are harmed by an anesthesia error, you are not alone. Our attorneys at David C. Rash, P.A. can help you recover from your traumatic experience and hold your healthcare providers accountable.
Additionally, the amount of serious anesthesia errors is decreasing. We have safer anesthesia drugs, better equipment, and higher standards for medical providers.
Most errors that occur today do not have adverse outcomes.
The Bad News
Every year, an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 patients die from medical errors. The majority of these deaths are medication related and 42% of them occur during anesthesia.
When a drug is prescribed to a patient in critical care, over 80 and up to 200 critical steps must be completed without error. Medical professionals can become overwhelmed or experience a breakdown of communication. Other risk factors include, but are not limited to:
- Inadequate experience or training
- Lack of familiarity with equipment/devices
- Haste
- Inattention or distraction
- Fatigue
- Lack of supervision
The more serious an operation, the more risk factors are likely to be involved. While this makes the job difficult for anesthesiologists, it does not excuse your suffering.
Anesthesiologists owe you a duty of care, and if they violate it, you are entitled to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Moving Forward
If you were injured by an anesthesia error, you may feel like moving on from the negative experience. We understand this, but you owe it to yourself and others to pursue justice. Medical malpractice lawsuits can discourage and prevent anesthesiologists from making the same mistake twice and protect other patients.
Damages from the lawsuit can also help you pay for expensive medical bills, rehabilitative costs, missed wages and all other losses.
At David C. Rash, P.A., we want to help.
Call us at (954) 914-7116 for a free, no obligation consultation.