Having to undergo any kind of surgery can be a scary and overwhelming experience. The thought of going under anesthesia and having a surgeon make an incision on your body — for any reason — can result in additional anxiety when you’re already feeling worried about your underlying medical condition. But, at the end of the day, you choose to trust the medical professionals who are treating you. After all, they know what they’re doing. So, what happens if something goes wrong while you’re under anesthesia? What do these types of malpractice cases entail?
Injuries Caused While Under Anesthesia
While anesthesia is specifically designed to make surgery a relatively painless procedure, it can be a double-edged sword. When not administered carefully, it could result in a long list of injuries. They can occur from the actions or inaction of the surgeon or the anesthetist — such as medication errors or surgical mishaps — or from the malfunction of the anesthetic equipment. Some of the most common anesthesia injuries include:
1. Harm to the respiratory system
When a person is unconscious, there’s a greater risk of airway obstruction. This is because oxygenation — as well as the elimination of carbon dioxide — are interrupted while on general anesthesia, due to muscle relaxation and decreased lung capacity. The effect could be even more dangerous on patients who are elderly, obese, or smokers. In fact, this is one of the leading causes of mortality during surgery and the postoperative period.
2. Harm to the cardiovascular system
The same way that anesthesia causes the lungs to relax to the point of not functioning without a ventilator, the muscle relaxation that ensues from unconsciousness can affect heart function. This can cause abnormal blood pressure (hemodynamic instability) — which, in turn, results in inadequate blood supply to vital organs. When this occurs, the patient may experience chest pain, shortness of breath, or blue hands and feet (peripheral cyanosis) during post-op.
3. Nerve damage
Nerve injuries are a complication of anesthesia. The most frequent damage tends to occur on the brachial plexus, lumbosacral nerve root, ulnar nerve, or spinal cord. When these types of injuries occur, the patient experiences sensory or motor changes, lower back and muscle pain and/or jaw soreness. Another telltale sign is numbness, feeling pins and needles, or weakness of the affected area.
4. Renal damage
Anesthesia comes with a heavy dose of medications — which means your kidneys need to be in optimal shape to filter them out from your blood. Yet, since anesthesia can also decrease blood flow, this impairs the kidneys’ ability to do just that. This can result in elevated levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine — which are waste products.
5. Brain damage
One of the responsibilities of the anesthetist is to monitor blood flow to the brain during surgery. If a person loses too much blood, this could result in decreased blood flow to the brain (brain hypoxia). Consequences of such an injury include oxygen deprivation, a stroke, irreversible brain damage, or even death.
Most injuries arising out of anesthesia are due to human error. They can occur from any of the following:
- Overmedicating
- Failure to intubate correctly
- Failure to monitor blood flow, fluid levels, and vital statistics
- Failure to notice if a patient vomits while under anesthesia
- Failure to monitor patients correctly post-surgery
Legal Options Following Anesthesia Malpractice
Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code is the statute that regulates medical negligence issues. For a claim of negligence to be viable, you have to prove that the surgeon, anesthetist, or hospital breached their duty of care towards you as a patient — and that the breach is the direct cause of your injuries.
You don’t have to worry about gathering all of the evidence yourself. If you or a loved one had surgery and now have injuries that you either know or suspect arose from the way the surgery was handled, talk to an experienced medical negligence attorney as soon as possible. The statute of limitations for anesthesia negligence claims in Texas is two years from the date of injury or two years from the date the patient was discharged from the hospital. If the injured person is a minor under the age of 12, they have until their 14th birthday for an adult to file a lawsuit on their behalf.
Civil Litigation Attorneys in Texas
If you believe you may be a victim of anesthesia negligence and need to know how to move forward, the experienced attorneys at The Weycer Law Firm can help.
Discuss your case for FREE today by contacting us online or by calling (713) 668-4545.
Note: This blog is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney/client relationship.