Anesthesiology Malpractice Claim Lawyer Miami, FL

If you or a loved one has suffered serious harm due to anesthesia problems during surgery, it may be time to discuss your legal options with an anesthesiology malpractice claim lawyer Miami, FL trusts. While anesthesia is a miraculous category of drugs that allow patients to avoid the intense physical pain that accompanies surgical or medical procedures, these drugs can be very harmful or even fatal when mistakes or negligence occur.

The Three Types of Anesthesia to Know

The job of anesthesia is to numb pain, and there are three ways to target the use of anesthesia. The first is called local anesthesia, which is applied into or onto a specific part of the body to numb just that small area. Regional anesthesia numbs a specific area of the body. An epidural before giving birth is a good example.

Finally, there is general anesthesia, which involves rendering a patient completely unconscious. This is almost entirely the method used for surgical procedures when patients are “put under.” While problems can occur with any application of anesthesia, general anesthesia is associated with the highest risks.

What Can Go Wrong with Anesthesia

The list of potential problems with local and regional anesthesia is pretty short. With both types, the goal is to administer the drug in the desired area without letting the drug get into a patient’s bloodstream. This is very unlikely with local anesthetic. With regional anesthetic, there are potential risks of nerve damage, high blood pressure and heart attacks. Again, the risks are generally low, though serious problems can and do occur.

General anesthesia is in its own risk category. It is not always possible to know ahead of time how patients will react to different anesthesia drugs, which is why it is critical to carefully monitor patients and respond at the first signs of trouble. Most general anesthesia errors are caused or exacerbated by failure to monitor.

Possible problems include:

·        The need for emergency intubation, leading to damage of the teeth and throat

·        Unaddressed breathing difficulties, leading to lack of oxygen and increased risk of brain damage or heart attack

·        Fatal overdose of anesthesia

·        Complications that lead to a patient breathing in the contents of his or her stomach

·        Anesthesia awareness, a condition in which the patient wakes up during the procedure but remains immobilized and unable to communicate with doctors

Who is liable for errors?

A medical malpractice lawyer Miami, FL trusts may tell you that anesthesia errors can usually be traced back to the anesthesiologist. And the likeliest allegations include:

·        Failure to monitor the anesthetized patient

·        Failure to quickly respond to distress

·        Failure to take proper patient medical history

·        Too much or too little anesthesia

·        Giving anesthesia too late to be fully effective

·        Miscommunication with surgeons and nurses

·        Mistakes in delivering oxygen during the procedure

·        Turning off or disabling alarms on the monitoring equipment

Have You been injured? Discuss Your Options with Us Today.

At Needle & Ellenberg, P.A., our experienced Florida legal team is ready to help you seek justice and compensation for the harm you suffered stemming from medical malpractice. To tell us about your case, please contact a Miami, FL anesthesiology malpractice claim lawyer today; we look forward to speaking with you.