Anesthesia Malpractice Attorneys

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 communication or hand-off, 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.
• Surgical fires: Also known as intraoperative fires, surgical fires are rare but devastating. O.R. staff should be properly trained on prevention and proper handling of surgical fires to minimize the risk of injury to patients.

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:

1. 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
2. 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, as well as a network of leading experts who can provide their opinions and testimony, we have the resources, experience, and dedication required for these complex cases.

Depending on the circumstances, it may also be possible to hold other parties or entities financially responsible for your damages. This could include other medical providers, hospitals, or medical facilities. Some of the legal situations that can lead to holding other parties liable in an anesthesia malpractice lawsuit include:

• 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: Sometimes, a physician is not an employee of the hospital but is hired as an independent contractor. 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.
• Negligent practices and policies: A healthcare facility is responsible for the operational and safety procedures followed within its facility. If these procedures are inadequate or not enforced, and a patient is harmed as a result, the hospital or healthcare system could be directly liable to that patient.

Patients injured by medical negligence have the right to compensation, but the defendants in medical malpractice cases – whether individual practitioners, hospitals, or their insurers – go to great lengths to avoid liability. Insurers, and even healthcare systems, are powerful organizations that are incentivised to prioritize profits over people. When faced with medical malpractice allegations, they will throw tremendous resources at disputing, denying, and underpaying claims.

To level the playing field, victims need to work with proven attorneys.