Anesthesia Error and Medical Malpractice Claims

Many medical procedures and surgeries require anesthesia to be administered to the patient. Use of anesthesia is a medical method of managing or preventing pain through administration of an anesthetic, controlled by an anesthesiologist or certified nurse anesthetist.

Anesthesia is inherently dangerous by virtue of the fact that dulling or eliminating pain is achieved by medications that artificially manipulate the body's natural functions. Anesthetic errors occur in less than one in every 250,000 applications; however, there are several million anesthetic procedures every year. As such, medical malpractice claims for anesthesia error are abundant.

Anesthetic Error Claims

There are many possible medical situations that require anesthesia and may therefore result in an anesthetic error. However, there are three anesthetic situations that most commonly lead to a medical malpractice suit based on the faulty administration of anesthesia:

1. Faulty positioning on the operating table
2. Neurological damage resulting from a spine or epidural injection
3. Intubation and extubation mistakes

Elements to be Proven in Anesthesia Medical Malpractice Claims

The set of elements necessary to bring a valid anesthesia medical malpractice claim varies by state. Nonetheless, the following elements are usually necessary:

• The anesthesiologist was negligent in that she deviated from the ordinary standard of anesthesia care
• The deviation from standard care was a direct and foreseeable cause of the patient's injury
• The claimed damages were a direct result of the injury (which often amounts to millions of dollars).