While You're Under for Surgery

While you don't hear about this particular type of medical
malpractice that often, it does happen, and at your most vulnerable
moment prior to and during surgery.

The administration of anesthesia is a delicate art, and those
trained in the field are highly skilled in using and monitoring the
effects of anesthesia. This isn't to say there aren't instances where
this goes awry. The recent spate of anesthesia malpractice lawsuits is
a good indication that this area of medicine is just as susceptible to
lawsuits as other more traditional areas of medical malpractice, e.g.
misdiagnosis, severe reactions to drugs, etc.

Knowing the patient prior to putting them under for surgery is the
responsibility of the anesthesiologist and requires that they not only
evaluate the patient, but also confirm pre-op data and keep a
meticulous record of the goals of the operation. These records must
contain all pertinent information about every member of the surgical
team and must also include the fact that the patient was assessed for
tolerance to certain anesthesia.

While the patient is under, the anesthesiologist is responsible for
the correct placement of IV lines, keeping track of the ECG, oxygen
levels, and the automatic blood pressure cuff. In addition, they also
take the lead role for intubating patient airways and the handling and
administration of the anesthesia, medicines and oxygen, etc. Every task
the anesthesiologist performs becomes a part of his or her records.
These records may be examined as part of a trial.

When you stop to take a look at the role the anesthesiologist has in
operations, it's not too difficult to imagine something going wrong
before, during or after the surgery. Things can and do happen. Every
time an anesthesiologist performs their crucial part of an operation,
their intentions are to do the best job they know how to do. Rarely are
their intentions to botch things up. However, if an error in judgment
is made, or something else goes wrong, the patient is the one who
suffers the consequences of negligence.

If you feel that you have been a victim of something that went wrong
while you were unconscious and being operated on, contact a skilled
medical malpractice attorney. S/he will evaluate your case and advise
you on how to proceed to justice.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta business law, Atlanta criminal defense visit, Webbdorazio.com.