Anesthesia medical malpractice accounts for a large number of medical malpractice cases across the country. Anesthesia malpractice is currently the twelfth highest medical specialty when it comes to the percentage of physicians in the specialty who have paid claims for malpractice. Anesthesia malpractice is usually devastating, often resulting in permanent injury, brain damage, and even death.
Unfortunately, proving negligence by an anesthesiologist or anesthesia staff is probably the most difficult malpractice to prove because the plaintiff, at the time of the malpractice, was unconscious or sedated, and minimal and often unreliable medical records are the only source of information in the case.
Hospitals and out-patient clinics should always keep detailed anesthesia notes in a patient's chart including a pre-anesthesia exam; informed consent form; operative record; transfer notes; physician notes and post-anesthesia record. Sometimes, after a tragic malpractice mistake, records get "lost" or altered; only careful inspection of medical records can reveal post-mistake additions, omissions or alterations.
An altered or destroyed medical record offers the plaintiff's side wonderful opportunities to prove malpractice and an attempt to hide the malpractice. Malpractice insurers and professional medical societies continuously warn medical practitioners to never alter medical records, but in the moments surrounding a potentially fatal mistake, professional and ethical advice is often forgotten.
Most people think of anesthesia malpractice as only taking place in the operating room; however, that is not the case. Anesthesia-related malpractice can happen during pre-operative preparation, post-operatively in the recovery room and in any procedure room in a medical facility or doctor's office. Anesthesia mistakes can take place during childbirth and even before the simplest dental procedures and are not limited to anesthesiologists.
Many healthcare professionals administer sedatives and anesthetics to their patients prior to procedures and surgeries. Administration of anesthesia requires specialized training and certification; certainly, the seriousness and number of complications increases significantly outside of the setting of the anesthesiologist in the operating room. Severe complications and death can occur in dental offices and cosmetic surgery clinics during procedures where patients are under general anesthesia and trained anesthesia staff are not present.
Potential anesthesia medical malpractice defendants include many medical practitioners including anesthesiologists, nurses, nurse anesthetists, surgeons, dentists, and doctors.
