Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia mistakes can result in permanent brain damage and even death. The role of an anesthesiologist is to sedate you so that you do not feel pain during surgery. However, there are instances where unqualified anesthesiologists fail to recognize that a patient was over-medicated causing the patient to lapse into respiratory and cardiac arrest, leading to permanent brain damage and untimely death.Nurse anesthetists are often used during surgery to take over for an anesthesiologist during surgery. They can provide monitoring for an uncomplicated patients who are undergoing surgery.
Another example of anesthesia malpractice is when a patient has been improperly intubated and the airway tube is placed into the patient's throat leading to their stomach instead of the tube leading to their lungs. As a result, air is inflated into the stomach and the patient is deprived of oxygen her brain needs to live.
Most physicians agree that the human brain can go without oxygen for 3-5 minutes before suffering permanent, irreversible brain damage.
Another example of wrongdoing is when a physician fails to recognize that the patient has vomited during surgery. This is very bad since the patient may inhale the vomit resulting in something known as aspiration pneumonia. This can prove deadly for the patient.
Often, anesthesia errors are preventable. I receive many calls from family members who are devastated because their loved one went into the hospital for routine surgery, and now is either brain-dead or has recently died. The physician fails to give them a detailed explanation as to why their loved one did not come out of surgery successfully and family members have many legal questions about what to do next.
If you believe you sustained injury as a result of an anesthesia error, please pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or e-mail me at [email protected]. I can answer your legal questions.
