Anesthesia Errors Can Lead to Serious Injury

The prospect of surgery can be frightening. The knowledge that your safety is completely out of your control during the procedure can cause quite a bit of stress. We take comfort in the knowledge that those performing the surgery are well trained and competent. Even though anesthesiologists dedicate many years to training, situational awareness errors occur.

Situational Awareness Errors

In a 2017 study published in the journal Anesthesiology, it was discovered that most anesthesiology accidents were the result of errors in situational awareness. Situational awareness is a failure to perceive relevant information related to clinical factors, which can lead to brain injury or death. The study further found that situational awareness errors were responsible for around 75% of the malpractice cases related to anesthesiology.

Common Anesthesiology Errors

The most common mistakes in anesthesia are:

• Medication dosing errors related to lack of experience, inadequate or faulty equipment or carelessness
• Unintentional administration of residual anesthetics resulting from not properly flushing the IV
• Ineffective post-operative pain management, most often due to improper timing of drug administration
• Documentation errors that could lead to improper dosages being administered
• Improper control of IV flow rate that can lead to issues with respiration
• Intubation and extubation errors that can lead to nerve damage, brain damage, stroke or injuries to the vocal cords
• Inadequate patient monitoring to ensure vital signs

The advancements in medical science have truly been amazing over the past century. Physicians are able to treat conditions that in the past carried death sentences. Medical procedures, however, are conducted by human beings who have the potential to make mistakes that lead to injury or death. Sometimes these mistakes could have been prevented by following proper procedures. If you or a loved one have suffered injury as a result of improper anesthesiology, call Attorney Daniel J. Moriarty today at (404) 600-1794, or fill out a contact form.