Article provided by Caravona & Czack, P.L.L.
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Anesthesia malpractice is usually devastating and often results in permanent injury, brain damage or death. There is very little room for error when taking over the breathing and oxygen supply of a patient. Healthcare professionals know they are to follow stringent precautions to prevent anesthesia malpractice.
However, anesthesia malpractice does occur. Anesthesia negligence can include the failure to follow precautions; the failure of alarm devices or monitoring devices; the failure to monitor a patient's blood pressure, respiration or pulse; or the failure to properly place a patient's breathing tubes.
There are four major types of anesthesia-general, spinal, regional, and local. Malpractice can occur during the administration of each. General anesthesia requires the doctor or nurse to effectively "breathe for the patient." Malpractice in general anesthesia can include the failure to make sure a patient is breathing or getting enough oxygen.
Spinal anesthesia (commonly referred to as epidural) is generally used for surgery involving the lower body, abdomen or pelvis and is often used during labor. Spinal anesthesia negligence can include using the wrong drug, or administering the wrong amount of a drug. Errors can also include failing to identify or address bleeding into the spinal canal (which can cause paralysis or trauma to the spinal cord or nerve roots), epidural hematoma, spinal cord infraction, meningitis and epidural abscess.
Regional anesthesia includes nerve block injections where anesthetic drugs are injected near a nerve to temporarily block pain signals to the brain. Regional anesthesia negligence can result from a needle being negligently inserted directly into the nerve.
Local anesthesia usually involves the numbing of the skin and the subcutaneous tissues. Negligence involving local Anesthesia can cause allergic reactions and skin damages as well as long-term coma and brain damage.
