People who have surgery and other medical procedures may need to have anesthesia administered. Unfortunately, this comes with risks. Those risks should be explained to you ahead of time, but this might not be done. It’s imperative that anyone who’s going under anesthesia give informed consent unless the procedure is a critical emergency.
There are several categories of injuries that might occur when a person is placed under anesthesia. These include:
- Tooth damage
- Death
- Nerve damage
- Major organ damage
- Pain
- Cardiopulmonary arrest
- Brain damage
Any patient who receives anesthesia must be monitored properly until they wake up after the procedure. The medical care team must be swift to react if they notice that anything is amiss. It’s especially important that the vital signs, including pulse, oxygenation percentage, respiration rate and blood pressure are watched closely until the patient is completely awake and recovered after the anesthesia.
It’s important to understand that complications from anesthesia can occur while the patient is under the anesthesia but it’s also possible that it will occur after the procedure is done, and the patient is awake. The exact amount of time in which the patient should be monitored and remain vigilant depends largely on the type of anesthesia that’s used.
As is the case in other areas of medicine, the standard of care comes into the picture when there’s a question about how a situation involving anesthesia was handled. Showing that the standard of care wasn’t met could help your claim. You must also show that the anesthesia error led to the damages that you’re claiming in your case. An attorney can help you understand your legal options.
