When you were told your partner needed a very common surgery, you didn’t think twice about it. But then, that simple procedure changed the course of your lives forever. While under anesthesia, his oxygen levels dropped and nobody noticed.
The result was earth-shattering. Coming out from surgery, the medical team had unfortunate news to deliver; there was a complication, and now your spouse has brain damage. While you’re trying to piece together your new life, you also have financial woes to deal with. Your spouse can no longer work, which is becoming a strain. Is there any justice you can seek? The answer is yes. And we’re here to help.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuit for Anesthesia Errors
While undergoing surgery, anesthetics are used to reduce or prevent pain. There are three main categories of anesthesia:
- Local: Numbs one small area of the body while you remain awake and alert.
- Regional: Blocks pain in a specific portion of the body. A common type of regional anesthetic is an epidural, used during childbirth.
- General: Makes you unconscious while also blocking all pain and memory of the procedure once you wake up.
Under any type of anesthetic, there are risks ranging in severity. Such risks include:
- Temporary confusion and memory loss
- Dizziness
- Difficulty passing urine
- Bruising or soreness from the IV
- Nausea and vomiting
- Shivering
- Sore throat
- Heart attack
- Pneumonia
- Stroke
In most cases, the utmost care is taken to ensure that the worst does not happen to a patient. But when it does, serious injury or even death can occur at the negligence of someone you should trust.
These medical malpractice cases can be difficult, which is why it’s imperative if something goes wrong, you contact a trusted medical malpractice attorney.
Brain Injury After Anesthesia
There are several types of malpractice claims you can make if your surgery results in a brain injury or death.
Inadequate Patient Monitoring: During surgery, the medical team on board should be closely monitoring the patient’s levels during the procedure as well as after. However, when this does not occur, it may result in serious injury. For example, if the patient loses blood flow to the brain during surgery, the patient may stroke on each side of the brain resulting in irreversible brain damage.
Postoperatively, if the patient is not monitored appropriately, there can also be issues. If the patient received too much anesthetic, this can cause the patient to not receive enough oxygen or completely stop breathing altogether. The results can be catastrophic if not caught soon enough.
Aspiration: Aspiration occurs when there is a foreign body or substance blocking the airways. In surgery, a patient may vomit, which then enters the trachea and lungs. This complication can lead to pneumonia as well as make it incredibly difficult to get the needed oxygen.
Improper Intubation: Intubation is the process of inserting a tube into a patient’s body, such as an artificial ventilation tube, into the trachea. These are used during surgery as the anesthetic may cause the diaphragm to become temporarily paralyzed, making it difficult to breathe.
However, this can sometimes go wrong, resulting in life-altering complications like:
- Anoxic or hypoxic brain damage
- Nerve damage
- Arrhythmia
- Stroke
- Paralysis of the vocal cords
Brain injury as a result of anesthesia errors or complications are most often highly preventable. If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury or other injuries as a result of an anesthesia error, you have a medical malpractice case.
Contact Fellerman & Ciarimboli Now
When you trust a medical provider to take care of your loved one, your world may come crashing down when you find out that the team’s negligence caused injury or death to your family member. We call upon our years of experience to determine what went wrong and who is responsible, and we will not rest until we’re sure you are compensated properly for your injuries.
If you or someone you love have suffered because of a healthcare professional’s negligence, time is of the essence. Don’t wait another second! Contact the Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton medical malpractice lawyers at Fellerman & Ciarimboli today for a free consultation.
