Surgery and anesthesia are powerful tools in modern medicine, but even with all their benefits, they carry serious risks. When things go wrong, the consequences can be life-altering. At National Trial Law, we’ve seen firsthand how anesthesia and surgical errors occur, what causes them, and what injured patients can do to hold negligent providers accountable.
How Anesthesia & Surgical Errors Happen
Medical teams work hard, but mistakes in the operating room can still occur. Understanding how these errors arise is the first step in protecting yourself and your rights.
1. Medication and Dosage Mistakes
Anesthesia involves complex drug regimens. Giving too much anesthesia or sedative or too little (which can mean “waking up” during surgery), failing to account for allergies, pre‐existing conditions, or interactions with other medications are common sources of error.
2. Inadequate Pre-operative Preparation
Errors often begin before the OR door is closed. These include miscalculating patient weight, missing or unclear medical histories, incomplete instructions about fasting, or neglected risk factors. Inaccurate or missing information can lead to serious complications once anesthesia is administered.
3. Poor Patient Monitoring
Once anesthesia starts, continuous monitoring of vital signs—oxygen levels, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, etc.—is essential. Failure in observation, delayed response to warning signs, or equipment malfunction can lead to severe harm, including brain injury or worse.
4. Intubation and Airway Management Errors
Intubation (placing a tube into a patient’s windpipe) is delicate. If done improperly—or not done when needed—it can damage airways or lead to breathing problems, oxygen deprivation, or aspiration. Errors during extubation (removing the tube) can also be dangerous.
5. Surgical Errors Interacting with Anesthesia
Anesthesia does not act in isolation. Surgical mistakes—such as wrong‐site surgery, retained instruments, and miscommunication among surgical staff—can be exacerbated by anesthesia errors. For example, a retained sponge might go unnoticed if patient monitoring is inadequate.
6. Communication Breakdowns & System Failures
Many errors are less about gross misconduct and more about system flaws. Miscommunication among the surgical team, failure to run proper checklists, poorly maintained equipment, or inadequate supervision are frequent contributing factors.
How You Can Fight Back: Your Legal Options
You have legal rights if you or a loved one has been harmed by anesthesia or surgical errors. Here’s what you can do and how to navigate the process.
1. Understand the Standard of Care
To prove negligence in a medical malpractice or surgical error case, you must show that the healthcare provider owed you a duty of care, breached that duty (failed to meet what a reasonable practitioner would do under similar circumstances), and that this breach caused harm.
2. Gather Evidence Quickly
Preserve medical records, consent forms, anesthesia records, operative notes, pre- and post-operative monitoring logs. Witness statements (from nurses, staff, family) can be invaluable. Expert testimony is usually required to establish what should have happened vs. what did happen.
3. Meet All Legal Deadlines
Malpractice claims are subject to strict statutes of limitations (deadlines) which vary by state. Missing a deadline—even by a short amount—can mean losing your chance to file the claim. Also, there may be pre-suit requirements like notices to medical boards or hospitals.
4. Identify All Responsible Parties
Sometimes multiple people or entities are responsible: the anesthesiologist, surgical team, hospital, device manufacturers, or even those who maintain the equipment. All potentially liable parties should be considered in your case.
5. Seek Skilled Legal Representation
Cases involving surgical and anesthesia errors are complex. You will need attorneys who know how to work with medical experts, navigate hospital policies, and present your case to maximize chances of obtaining compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and more.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys
At National Trial Law, we believe that patients deserve safe care — and when that care falls below acceptable standards, we believe in holding negligent parties accountable. If you or a loved one have suffered due to anesthesia or surgical errors, don’t wait: contact us for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, help you understand your rights, and fight tirelessly for the justice and compensation you deserve. Call (833) 913-1885 or visit our website today.