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Top 3 Anesthesia Mistakes & Errors | Anesthesiologist Malpractice

Why do anesthesia complications and mistakes occur?

Current statistics indicate that 1 in every 200,000 to 300,000 patients die due to anesthesia complications.  Often the most dangerous portion of a surgical procedure is the anesthesia. Anesthesia complications and mistakes occur on a fairly regular basis, but most people to hear about these kids of mistakes until it affects them or someone close to them.

Below are the top 3 reasons for anesthesia mistakes.

1. Poor communication between staff members. Fatigue, personality conflicts, or the rush to complete surgery often cause the anesthesiologist or technicians to fail to consider all of the anesthesia safety factors including age and weight of the patient, past reactions to anesthesia, and type of surgery.

2. Improper training, experience, certification. Many technicians do not have the proper background to be administering anesthesia. Unfortunately anesthesia professionals get a lot of "on the job training" in hospitals and emergency rooms. You never know when you could wind up being a helpless guinea pig.

3. Failure to read chart notes / orders. Although someone might have noted your medical conditions, allergies, etc. someone else may not have looked at that notation. Therefore, you might be given anesthesia that could cause you to have a heart attack or stroke.

 

There are many other anesthesia problems and complications that can happen during a surgical procedure.  This list is only dedicated to the top three problems.  Obviously, hospitals and medical personnel do not want anesthesia mistakes to occur. But when they do happen, someone needs to be responsible for the errors. 

Complications or death due to anesthesia errors happen every day in the US. Hospital administrators in Washington typically under-report such incidents. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a anesthesia error in a hospital in Washington state contact medical malpractice attorney Chris Davis at Davis Law Group to schedule a free legal consultation. Call 206-727-4000. The call is free. The information may be priceless.