Can You Actually Sue a Hospital for Anesthesia Complications?

Can You Actually Sue a Hospital for Anesthesia Complications?
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Have you been injured while receiving medical treatment, particularly anesthesia complications? Are you thinking of filing a lawsuit against the doctor or the hospital for their negligence? Many things can happen during surgery, and even though we don’t want it, an act of negligence or emission can occur. Let’s take a closer look at legalities, medical malpractice, and anesthesia complications.

There are three main types of anesthesia

  1. Local Anesthesia – anesthesia is applied to one small part of the body ( used in minor skin operation or minor dental procedure)
  2. Regional Anesthesia – anesthesia is given only to one location/part of the body (spinal block or arm, leg, hand, and foot)
  3. General Anesthesia – the patient will be completely unconscious (major operations like heart surgery or neuro)

The Complications and Injuries

Although anesthesia is generally used, it can cause injuries by just using too much or too little of it. However, as mentioned by the medical malpractice lawyer at www.bakerandgilchrist.com/medical-malpractice-lawyer/complications-of-general-anesthesia/, hospitals or doctors will not usually admit that you have been a victim of substandard care or harmed by a preventable anesthesia complication. That is why you must be aware of the signs of anesthesia complications, then seek help from professionals to help you prove your claims.

The common and less grave patients complain they are experiencing pain, nausea, vomiting, and temporary mental confusion. However, severely injured patients can experience:

  • Allergic Reaction
  • Brain Damage (9% of malpractice claims)
  • Stroke
  • Nerve Damage (22% of malpractice claims)
  • Pneumonia
  • Anesthesia Awareness
  • Blood Clot
  • Death (26% of malpractice claims)

The Common Mistakes of the Anesthesiologist

The most common mistakes that an anesthesiologist can make are: giving the wrong dosage (insufficient or over amount), intubating the patient faultily, failure to monitor the patient, failure to recognize complication, failure to monitor the oxygen level of the patient, and improper surgery preparation/instructions.

Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/patient-with-iv-line-3845126/

Hospitals are liable for their employee’s actions, this is according to a legal theory “respondeat superior.” If an employee has become incompetent or negligent, the hospital can be responsible for medical malpractice. For something to be considered medical malpractice, they need to have these elements: duty, which means that duty must have been owed to a patient by a medical practitioner, followed by breach of duty, which means that the medical practitioner failed to do his/her job. The next one is damage, which means that the patient has suffered an emotional or physical injury under the medical practitioner’s care. The last element is cause, which states that there must be substantial evidence that the medical practitioner’s negligence causes the injury. If you have all of this, then yes, you can sue your hospital for the anesthesia complication.

If you decided to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must talk and get representation from a medical malpractice lawyer. Medical malpractice is a complicated lawsuit claim, and your lawyer needs to have a high amount of expertise in this field. There are a lot more considerations to make a hospital liable. Moreover, every state and region has different rules. Make sure that after you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, seek medical help to make sure you are okay, obtain medical records and lastly, ask for legal help.


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I am a pop culture and social media expert. Aside from writing about the latest news health, I also enjoy pop culture and Yoga. I have BA in American Cultural Studies and currently enrolled in a Mass-Media MA program. I like to spend my spring breaks volunteering overseas.

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