Columbus Anesthesia Error Attorneys

Anesthesia errors, in most cases, can be credited to human error on the part of the medical professional administering the anesthesia. Sometimes medical professionals administer the incorrect type or dose of medicine, and others times they simply fail to properly monitor the patient’s needs. In either case, the patient is the one who can endure long-term pain because of the mistake. The Columbus anesthesia error lawyers at the Rinehardt Injury Attorneys understand the effects this can have on a person and their family. We want to help you through the challenges that can arise after a medical mistake.

Why Monitoring the Patient is Crucial

Everyone knows that hospital staff members are juggling many different patients and many stressful situations at once. However, when the medical professional administering the anesthesia fails to monitor the patient closely enough, the following problems are the most common to cause injury to the patient:

• Failure to identify medication complications in the patient
• Administering the anesthesia too late
• Failure to properly explain the procedure requirements the patient needs to follow after taking the anesthesia
• An overdose or under-dose of anesthesia
• Poor communication with other hospital staff working with the patient
• Sedating the patient for much longer than is intended
• Failure to provide the proper amount of oxygen to the patient

In addition to properly managing the patient who will be receiving the anesthesia, two key factors in preventing anesthesia errors involve medical records and staff communication. When a patient is scheduled to undergo surgery, he or she will likely work with doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and surgeons – all of whom are rarely in the same room all at once. When records are not meticulously tracked and communication breaks down, it can result in errors, which can injure the patient in the short-term and long-term.

Staggering Statistics on Anesthesia Errors

Some people have what may be called an “irrational fear” that they will wake up during a surgery, even if they’ve been given anesthesia beforehand. Unfortunately, this is not as rare of an occurrence as you may think. Anesthesia awareness is a term that refers to cases where patients were administered anesthesia but are still fully aware of what is going on during their surgery.

Consider the following statistics about anesthesia awareness:

• Anesthesia awareness occurs in approximately 20,000 to 40,000 surgeries per year
• 1-2 out of 1,000 people who were administered anesthesia will experience anesthesia awareness
• Roughly 100 patients experience anesthesia awareness every day in the United States

As if surgery weren’t a stressful enough experience for the patient, experiencing anesthesia awareness can be a terrifying and scarring experience. If you experienced anesthesia awareness during a surgery, you probably felt helpless and alone when it happened. Now that the surgery is over, you shouldn’t feel helpless and alone as you take your case to court. Contact our team for a no obligation consultation to learn how you can get on the road to recovering from your experience.