Atlanta Anesthesia Error Attorney
Every worker in a hospital OR is a medical professional who is held to a standard of care corresponding to their profession and whose medical mistakes could cause grave error or death to the patient on the operating table. Along with the surgeons and surgical nurses, one of the most important figures in the operating room is the anesthesiologist. Their duties are essential to allow surgery to proceed at all, as well as manage patient pain during and after the procedure. Anesthesia errors can cause pain, terror or prevent an operation from being performed successfully, and they can also lead to severe consequences up to and including permanent brain damage or death. Atlanta anesthesia error attorney Stacey Carroll holds doctors and hospitals accountable for their mistakes and the harm they cause during surgery or other procedures involving anesthesia. Call the Carroll Law Firm for a complimentary consultation to discuss any potential claims you may have.
What is an anesthesiologist?
An anesthesiologist is a fully licensed physician, either an MD or a DO, who has completed medical school, an internship and a residency like other doctors. The role of the anesthesiologist includes administering anesthetics during surgery as well as developing the anesthetic plan in coordination with the surgeon and patient. The anesthesiologist is involved in many aspects of the patient’s perioperative care, including pre-operative surgery preparation and often post-operative pain management.
What are the different kinds of anesthesia?
There are three different types of anesthesia: local, regional and general. When a patient undergoes local or regional anesthesia, only the part of the body being operated on is anesthetized, and the patient retains consciousness during the procedure. With general anesthesia, the patient is rendered unconscious for the duration of the operation. Although general anesthesia puts the patient at the most risk of complications and serious consequences from medical errors, local and regional anesthesia can cause pain and nerve damage if they are administered improperly.
Under general anesthesia, the patient is sedated with a complex cocktail of medications to achieve three different goals of anesthesia. These classes of drugs are hypnotics, relaxants and analgesics.
- Hypnotics render the patient unconscious so that he or she is unaware or incapable of understanding what is going on.
- Relaxants relax the patient’s muscles to make it easier to access vital organs and also to ease the insertion of a breathing tube during surgery.
- Analgesics keep the patient from feeling pain during the procedure.
What can go wrong in the administration of anesthesia?
The precise cocktail of drugs used in general anesthesia must be carefully prepared according to the patient’s weight, drug allergies, physical health and other factors. If too little hypnotics are administered, the patient is likely to be aware during the procedure yet unable to communicate with medical staff, causing intense fear and psychological trauma. Too few relaxants can make the surgery difficult or impossible, but too many can slow a patient’s heartbeat to dangerously low levels. Too little analgesics can allow the patient to experience tremendous pain during the operation, yet again unable to communicate or stop the procedure.
Other consequences of anesthesia mistakes range from nausea and throat injury during intubation to brain damage, seizures and death.
Get Help After Anesthesia Malpractice in Atlanta
If you or a loved one may have suffered harm from anesthetics during or after surgery or another medical procedure, call the Carroll Law Firm in Atlanta at 404-816-4555 for a no-cost consultation with an experienced and successful Atlanta medical malpractice attorney.
