During surgery, the anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist are like umpires.  If they do their job well, no one notices them.  But when anesthesiologists make mistakes during surgery, the harm to the patient is often catastrophic.  This page discusses anesthesia malpractice lawsuits.  If you believe you have a claim for a mistake and would like to speak with an anesthesia malpractice about your options, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online case evaluation. 

Overview of Anesthesia

Approximately 40 million anaesthetics are administered each year in the United States.  There are three types of anaesthetics: local anaesthetics, regional anaesthetics and general anaesthetics.  Local anaesthetics are used for small areas of the body (e.g. numbing tooth for filling a cavity). This type of anaesthetic usually lasts for an hour or two.  Regional anaesthetic may be used during labour, or sometimes on limbs of the body.  General anaesthesia is that you think it is: being "put under" where you are, if done right, unconscious and have no memory of the procedure.   This type of anaesthetic is generally used for more serious procedures:  heart, lung, brain surgeries, and the like. 

Anaesthesiologists in operating rooms are responsible to provide continuous medical assessment of the patient including monitoring vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate, etc.) and administering anaesthesia to control the patient's pain level and state of unconsciousness.  After surgery, they are responsible for post-anaesthetic evaluation and maintaining patients in state of comfort. 

Information on Anesthesia Malpractice Claims

The rate of anaesthesia malpractice has been declining over the past several years due to advancing medical practice as well as the ASA Closed Claims Project initiative.   The ASA Closed Claims Project was started in 1985 to review malpractice in anaesthesia in order to understand potential areas of concern and to address and prevent occurrences in the future.  The ASA has generated a database of 9214 closed insurance claims from cases of anaesthetic malpractice.  The database does not include dental anaesthetic malpractice claims, which are the most common of anaesthetic malpractice claims.

Types of anaesthesia malpractice include burns from materials or devices heated and used to warm patients (e.g. heating pads, IV bags, warming lights and hot compresses), cautery burns/fires, eye damage, nerve damage (e.g. cervical cord injury), awareness, trauma and drug allergies or interactions.  Trauma includes, but is not limited to, intubation problems, endotracheal tube insertion and removal of tubes.  Intubation problems can occur due to misdirection of the tube down the esophagus which may damage the throat structures (thyroid cartilage, larynx (voice box)).  Endotracheal tube mal-positioning can lead to lung or heart damage.  It is also critical that the anaesthesiologists are aware of the patients current medications and allergies so adverse reactions can be anticipated and managed accordingly.

Anesthesia-associated nerve injury is a common cause of malpractice lawsuits.  The most common injury was to the brachial plexus, followed by ulnar nerve injury, radial nerve injury,  peroneal nerve injury, paraplegia (4 [9%]), lumbosacral injury, and a variety of "other" injuries.   Studies have found that for most Anesthesia-associated nerve injury lawsuits, a reoccurring issue is the lack of proper intraoperative protective padding and errors in patient position.   There are also a large number of malpractice lawsuits from anaesthesiologists misusing the tourniquet during a procedure. 

Pregnant women and the paediatric population (children under the age of 16) are two populations that have further risk for complication with anaesthesia.  Obstetric anaesthesia malpractice claims include maternal death, maternal brain damage, newborn brain damage/newborn death (all of which usually involve difficult intubation) maternal nerve injury (due to regional anaesthesia), headache and back pain.  Though maternal brain damage, maternal death and newborn brain damage/death have decreased over time, there has been an increase in the number of claims for maternal nerve damage and back pain.  Newborn brain damage/death is reported to be associated with poor communication, substandard anaesthesia care in response to intubation and anaesthesia delay.   The most common adverse events in anaesthetic malpractice claims in paediatric care include respiratory events, cardiovascular events, brain damage and death.  

Anaesthesia Awareness

One anesthesia complication is anaesthesia awareness.  The patient receives medication that paralyzes them from calling for help but the patient remains conscious.   The patient is helplessly to expresses the awful pain and must suffer through the surgery fully aware.  According to the ASA Closed Claims Project, anaesthetic awareness occurs at a rate of 0.1% to 0.2% of general anaesthetics.  Causes of awareness include light anaesthesia (37%) and anaesthesia delivery problems (28%). In a third of the cases, the cause is unknown.  

Finding an Anaesthesia Malpractice Lawyer

If you live in the Baltimore Washington area and believe you have been a victim of medical negligence in Maryland, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online medical malpractice consultation.