Any procedure that requires the use of anesthesia carries inherent risks. The dangers you could be exposed to may increase exponentially if your healthcare providers are careless. A negligent anesthesiologist might cause a catastrophic injury that could prevent you from living your life as you used to.
If you sustain an injury because of a medical professional’s misconduct, you may be entitled to file a medical malpractice claim. Learn more about anesthesia injuries and your legal options if you’ve sustained one.
The Most Common Reasons Anesthesia Injuries Occur
Anesthesia injuries can occur for numerous reasons, including some that are impossible to prevent. The following errors, however, may be considered medical negligence.
Dosage Mistakes
One of the most frequent causes of anesthesia injuries is dosage errors.
An anesthesiologist who doesn’t correctly calculate the necessary dose or who doesn’t consider other health issues or medications when preparing the dose has failed to meet the standard of care expected of them.
This type of anesthesia error can result in the patient waking up during the procedure, which is called anesthesia awareness.
Alternatively, the patient could suffer from an overdose. This often results in brain damage as a result of a lack of oxygen.
Failure To Monitor
Anesthesiologists must monitor patients throughout the procedure. They should look for any changes in heart rate, breathing, or blood pressure that could indicate complications. A provider who fails to monitor patients closely throughout the entire process can cause irreparable harm.
Improper Airway Management
If the patient requires intubation, anesthesiologists have to place the tube with care. Improper intubation can result in damage to the patient’s teeth and trachea.
An unskilled anesthesiologist might cause vocal cord damage. You might experience a change in your ability to speak or even paralysis of your vocal cords due to nerve damage in the area.
Improper airway management during intubation can also put a patient at risk of aspiration. The patient’s stomach contents or saliva can enter their lungs and cause severe complications, including blockages that prevent the passage of air.
Improper Anesthesia Technique
Incorrect needle placement when administering anesthesia can result in nerve damage and harm to muscles and other tissues.
Understanding Medical Malpractice
Medical procedures can sometimes result in injuries to patients, but not all of these injuries lead to successful medical malpractice claims. To win such a claim, you must demonstrate that negligence occurred.
Other personal injury claims involve proving that any reasonable person would not have made the same mistake. Medical malpractice cases have an added difficulty: You must show that a competent healthcare provider would not have behaved in the same manner.
That requires obtaining corroborating testimony from medical professionals.
To complicate matters further, you have to follow strict medical malpractice deadlines. In Nevada, you have three years from when the malpractice event occurred or one year from when you discover or should have discovered the injury.
If you miss this deadline, you could be permanently barred from recovering any compensation.
How a Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Help With an Anesthesia Injury Claim
If you plan to pursue a claim against the parties that were negligent in your medical procedure, you will need to hire an attorney.
These claims are complex and require a substantial amount of evidence. Most people don’t have the experience or know-how to gather the most pertinent information to prove negligence, but a capable lawyer will.
Another challenge you face if you attempt to go through the process alone is understanding the exact losses you suffered. If you don’t calculate these correctly, you could end up with a settlement that doesn’t address all of your needs. An experienced lawyer, however, can put together a fair number.
With an attorney, you can also avoid one of the most challenging aspects of these cases: negotiating with insurance companies. Insurers will be searching for any way to avoid paying you. They may try to delay the process or make a too-low offer.
Without a lawyer advising you, you may feel so stressed that you accept less than you deserve.
A skilled lawyer will aggressively negotiate with malpractice insurers to obtain fair compensation.
If the negotiations stall, you and your lawyer can decide to file a lawsuit and take your case to court. That is a significant amount of leverage, and it can keep insurers returning to the negotiation table.
Contact the Las Vegas Medical Malpractice Attorneys at De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
If another party’s misconduct resulted in an injury during a medical procedure, you may be entitled to file a claim.
At De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers, our team of Las Vegas medical malpractice lawyers can fight for your right to fair compensation. Contact our team at (702) 222-9999 to schedule a free consultation.
