Since 1988, Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen has represented families who have lost loved ones to someone else's negligent actions. Our firm has a proven track record of success, winning millions of dollars in rightful compensation for our clients.
Miami Anesthesia Malpractice Attorney
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Over Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia is used widely in the practice of medicine and various elective, dental, and cosmetic procedures.
Whether it’s a local injection administered by an orthodontist, a spinal block used before an orthopedic procedure, or general anesthesia that renders a patient completely unconscious prior to a surgery, anesthesia’s ability to block pain and control the body’s biological response to stress is an important tool in modern medicine.
Though common, anesthesia is still accompanied by considerable risks. Mistakes made by providers in preparing and administering anesthesia can increase a patient’s risk of suffering serious injury, or death – and may constitute the grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
GRYC: Proven Trial Attorneys. Proven Results.
Gross Roth Yaffa Cohen is a Miami-based trial practice focused exclusively on fighting for the injured and the wronged. Since 1988, our team has cultivated a legacy of success in challenging and high-stakes litigation – including claims against medical professionals who failed to uphold their duty of care.
With a record of national and international success, we’ve been trusted by clients, communities, and colleagues across Florida and beyond. Here are a few reasons why:
- Over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements recovered for our clients, including multiple 7-figure recoveries in cases involving medical negligence.
- Landmark cases that have helped shape medical malpractice laws, expand victims’ rights, and prompt needed changes in quality of care
- Nationally recognized trial attorneys named among Florida Super Lawyers®, The Best Lawyers in America®, the Lawdragon 500, and other premier legal rating services.
If you or someone you love have suffered due to an anesthesia error anywhere in South Florida or the U.S., our Miami lawyers can help. Call or contact us online for a FREE consultation.
How Do Anesthesia Errors Happen?
Anesthesia is administered for a variety of procedures in hospitals, outpatient facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, and doctors’ offices. Whether coordinated by an anesthesiologist, certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), or others, providers have an obligation to ensure proper use of anesthesia, and the safety of patients.
Unfortunately, medical professionals can make costly mistakes involving anesthesia, including:
- Dosage errors: The wrong dose (too little or too much anesthesia), delays in administering anesthesia, or administering the wrong type of anesthesia can cause injury or death.
- Intubation errors: Some patients who receive anesthesia are also intubated. Failure to correctly intubate or monitor intubation can have devastating consequences.
- Failure to monitor: Providers must carefully monitor patients when placing them under anesthesia, and watch their oxygen levels and vital signs for potential indicators of distress.
- Failure to identify or treat complications: If complications arise or patients experience adverse reactions to anesthesia, timely recognition and response is crucial.
- Administrative errors: The use of anesthesia often requires collaboration among various providers and administrative staff. Errors involving communications or hand-offs, patient history, informed consent, medication supply, and patient instructions can greatly increase risks, as can poor protocols and practices used by hospitals or medical centers.
- Intraoperative Fires
Anesthesia malpractice can substantially increase a patient’s risks of suffering injuries such as
- Allergic reaction (anaphylaxis)
- Pneumonia
- Intubation injuries
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Brain damage
- Blood clots
- Anesthesia awareness (regaining consciousness during surgery)
- Wrongful death
Can I File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Over an Anesthesia Error?
That depends. The unique facts of your case will need to be thoroughly investigated in order to determine whether you have grounds to take civil legal action.
Generally, whether your claim has merit will depend greatly on two factors:
- Whether the anesthesiologist, treating provider, and / or hospital or facility breached their duty of care by failing to act in a manner a reasonably skilled and experienced medical professional would have acted under the same or similar circumstances; and
- Whether the provider’s substandard care was a substantial cause of your injury and losses.
At Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen, our legal team has refined the processes by which we investigate, research, and construct medical malpractice claims. Backed by a team of award-winning trial lawyers, paralegals, and medical investigators, and well-connected with leading experts who can provide their opinions and testimony, we have the resources required of these complex cases.
Who Can Be Held Liable For Anesthesia Malpractice?
If an anesthesiologist deviated from the standard of care and caused preventable injury, they may be held liable for victims’ damages – which can include pain and suffering, lost income, medical expenses, and other financial or non-economic losses.
Depending on the circumstances, it may also be possible to hold other parties or entities financially responsible for damages. This may include other providers involved in a patient’s care, or hospitals and medical facilities – depending on whether they employed or contracted an anesthesiologist. For example, it may be possible to argue:
- Vicarious liability: In situations where hospitals employ an anesthesiologist who negligently causes injury, the hospital may be held vicariously liable for resulting damages.
- Negligent hiring and supervision: Hospitals and medical facilities are not generally liable for the conduct of independent contractors, but they may be held liable for damages caused by providers working as independent contractors if they were negligent in hiring and / or supervising the contractor, depending on the circumstances.
Though patients injured by medical negligence have the right to compensation, it’s important to know that Defendants in malpractice cases – be they individual practitioners, hospitals, or the insurance carriers that represent accused providers – go to great lengths to shield themselves against liability. As powerful corporations, these parties often prioritize profits over people, and throw tremendous resources at disputing, denying, and underpaying claims.
To level the playing field, victims need to work with proven attorneys.
At GRYC, our team not only helps clients find level footing to fight back against powerful corporations, we also carefully scour the circumstances surrounding incidents to ensure accountability is pursued against all liable Defendants.
Call (866) 629-1061 For a FREE Consultation
Our Miami anesthesia error attorneys at Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen serve victims and families across Florida and the U.S. If you wish to learn more about your rights, legal options, and how our nationally recognized trial team may be able to help, please call or contact us online.
We FREE case evaluations, and handle malpractice cases on contingency fees. This means there are no up-front costs to hiring our firm, and no fees unless we win.
A Legacy of Change
Working With Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen-
Changing Lives by Changing The Law
Since our firm opened, we've made it our mission to get justice for our clients and their families. We've not only taken on cases that other firms had turned down, but we've also fought to get unjust laws and restrictions overturned or modified.
-
A Team of Legal Professionals
Complex legal cases require extensive research, trial experience, and industry knowledge, which is why we always have a team of attorneys working on every case we take on. Our team-centric approach to litigation means that we're able to really focus on getting our clients the best possible outcome.
-
There Are No Upfront Legal Fees
We handle all of our claims on a contingency fee basis and will handle all legal fees, court costs, and expert fees related to your specific case. With decades of experience in this industry, we have a wealth of experts we work with routinely to ensure your case is handled with the utmost care.
-
We Understand the Medicine
Our attorneys not only take the time to understand the evidence in your case, but also the pathology and medical techniques used in your specific situation. We believe that any attorney that takes on these types of cases needs to be on equal footing with medical professionals and physicians.
A LEGACY OF CHANGING LIVES
Millions Recovered on Behalf of Our Clients-
Medical Malpractice Seven-Figure Orthopedic Medical Malpractice
A Punta Gorda, Florida woman in her forties visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist for a check-up due to fatigue. After performing a brief examination, the doctor at the facility recommended that she undergo parathyroid surgery, however he did not order the necessary radiological scan that determines which side of her neck should be operated on. Without that information available, the surgeon began on the wrong side of her neck and did not realize his error until they were well into the procedure.
-
Medical Malpractice Seven-Figure Settlement for Woman Who Lost Her Leg After Misdiagnosis
A woman in her sixties was brought to a hospital after she slipped and fell, injuring her leg and causing severe pain. During her treatment, the hospital staff failed to notice that the impact had caused a blood clot behind her knee, which was restricting circulation to the rest of her leg. Over time, the untreated clot cut off blood flow to the point where her leg was beyond saving and needed amputation.
-
Medical Malpractice Seven-Figure Settlement for Family of Mother Who Died During Childbirth
In 2015, a 23-year-old mother began experiencing severe complications while giving birth in Charlotte County, Florida. The hospital’s staff did not give her the attention she needed, and failed to realize that her complications required an emergency transfer to a Sarasota County Hospital, which had the needed staff and equipment to treat her. The mother and her unborn child eventually died in the hospital.
-
Medical Malpractice Seven-Figure Settlement for Misdiagnosis of a Blood Clot
A 68-year-old man was complaining about pain in his left leg, which was swollen, red, and painful. He went to a local emergency room, and the family asked the doctor if it was a blood clot. The doctor assured the family that it was not a blood clot but was instead cellulitis from a sunburn. When the patient returned home the next day, he died of a pulmonary embolism due to the blood clot that was initially suspected by the family.
-
Medical Malpractice Over $1 Million Settlement for Medical Malpractice Victim
A middle-aged man had a history of an aortic aneurysm. His plan was to fly to Stanford University, where a doctor was scheduled to repair the aneurysm. Rather than starting the transfer to Stanford the day he arrived, the hospital waited three days and then failed to get his insurance company to pay for the transfer. Tragically, while the patient was speaking with the insurance company on the phone about the transfer, the aneurysm ruptured, and he died.
-
Jury Verdict Against the University of Florida $23,500,000
A $23.5 million medical malpractice jury verdict against the University of Florida on behalf of a woman who suffered a massive stroke when a medical procedure to ease her migraines went wrong.
-
Jury Verdict on Behalf of a Former Major League Baseball Star $898,000
A medical malpractice jury verdict on behalf of a former Major League Baseball star against an ophthalmologist for negligence in the removal of a cataract and implantation of an artificial lens in our client’s left eye.
-
Medical Malpractice Eight-Figure Settlement for Victim of Nursing Medical Malpractice
A middle-aged woman was in a hospital recovering from a brain aneurysm. While recovering in her hospital room, she grew agitated and began pulling on the tracheostomy tube connected to her neck. The nurse on duty documented that she was pulling at her tubes six different times in 24 hours, and yet did nothing to prevent her from being able to dismantle the tubes.
-
Medical Malpractice Eight-Figure Settlement for Failure to Timely Treat a Heart Attack
After successfully opening and stenting a 53-year-old man's blocked artery, while in the recovery room, the patient suffered another heart attack, but this time it took medical staff nearly 90 minutes to get him back to the catheterization lab. Due to the delay, his heart stopped. He was revived in the operating room, but he suffered a hypoxic brain injury, causing massive brain damage.
-
Medical Malpractice Seven-Figure Settlement for Victim of Cardiology Medical Malpractice
A 46-year-old man was undergoing heart surgery at a South Florida hospital after suffering a heart attack. During the procedure, the cardiologist perforated the patient’s left anterior descending artery. The patient died, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter and wife.
