Chicago Anesthesia Error Attorney | Kroot Law

When a patient undergoes a surgical procedure, anesthesia is often administered allowing the patient to enter an unconscious or semiconscious state without pain. While the vast majority of anesthesia is administered safely and without incident, mistakes can and do occur. Unfortunately, when anesthesia errors occur, the results are often devastating.

There are four primary types of anesthesia: general, spinal, regional, and local. General anesthesia is usually used for major surgical procedures and involves a total loss of consciousness. Spinal anesthesia, often called an epidural, is generally used for surgery involving the lower body (e.g., to minimize a mother’s pain during labor and delivery). Regional anesthesia, often called nerve blocks, occurs when anesthesia injected near a nerve to temporarily block or deaden pain signals to the brain. Local anesthesia generally involves numbing the skin and the tissue just below. As described below, the most serious anesthesia errors usually involve general anesthesia or spinal anesthesia.

Anesthesia errors and mistakes are made by a variety of health professionals including anesthesiologists, nurses, and other medical specialists involved in a surgical procedure. Many anesthesia errors stem from failing to properly evaluate the patient before surgery or failing to properly monitor the patient during surgery. Common anesthesia mistakes include:

• Too much anesthesia
• Too little anesthesia
• Administering anesthesia to an allergic patient
• Harmful drug interactions
• Medication errors
• Failing to properly monitor vital signs
• Failing to properly administer oxygen during surgery
• Failing to properly react to oxygenation problems
• Delayed anesthesia delivery

The consequences of anesthesia errors can take a variety of forms, including:

• Asphyxia
• Brain injury
• Paralysis
• Death
• Comma
• Heath attack
• Stroke
• Awareness and/or pain during surgery

The consequences of anesthesia errors, as discussed above, can be devastating. When a health professional fails to exercise proper care, injured patients have a right to hold them accountable. Working with a top Chicago anesthesia error attorney can be critical to successfully uncovering this type of medical mistake. If you or a loved one has experienced serious injury or death as result of possible anesthesia error or medical malpractice, we invite you to contact medical malpractice Lawyer Jason M. Kroot of Kroot Law, LLC, for a free consultation.