Are You Awake?

If you've ever had a medical test done at a hospital under something
called "conscious sedation," be aware this has the potential to be a
highly risky procedure.

These days the use of conscious sedation is on the increase in
outpatient centers, clinics and hospitals. This isn't to say that the
increasing rate is necessarily a bad thing, but you should be aware
that there are serious risks associated with conscious sedation.

Many times this procedure is performed without any anesthesia
personnel present during the administration of the drugs, during the
actual test or while the patient is recovering. Anesthesia personnel
include an anesthesiologist or a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
(CRNA); people who assess and/or give sedation drugs. For the most
part, the reason for not using anesthesia personnel is strictly a cost
saving measure. It is not for patient safety.

While this might not bother the person who is undergoing the
procedure, they really need to know that the drugs that are used for
sedation are respiratory depressants. Where the danger arises during
this type of protocol is problems assessing a patient's physical status
classification – as in how well they will tolerate anesthesia,
especially if they have other health issues.

Other areas that cause concern are the dose levels of the sedation
drugs and being aware of, recognizing and responding when a patient is
in trouble or has slipped over the edge into a deep sedation. Personnel
on deck during the procedure (who must be Advanced Cardiac Life Support
or “ACLS” trained and certified) need to be able to immediately reverse
the drugs, rescue a deeply sedated patient or be able to resuscitate
someone who goes into cardiac arrest. The ACLS training is supposed to
be updated every year; however this is not always the case.

Although conscious sedation is supposed to help patients deal with
the pain and/or anxiety of certain not so pleasant tests, this
"twilight sleep" has the potential to do them more harm than good. In
fact, these days, the drugs to induce this kind of "sleep" are even
more potent than before and are usually short acting compounds. Being
more potent means the patient slips "under" much more quickly than ever.

If you or a loved one has had a brush with danger during the use of
conscious sedation, and has suffered lingering side effects, contact an
experienced medical malpractice attorney and discuss your potential
case.

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing
in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more about Cleveland medical malpractice, Cleveland malpractice lawyer, Cleveland medical malpractice, Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer, visit Christophermellino.com.