Few medical errors are more devastating than an anesthesia mistake. Before surgery begins, you place complete trust in the anesthesia team to keep you safe while you are unconscious and unable to protect yourself. When a medical provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care during this process, the consequences can be life-altering.
If you believe an anesthesia error caused a serious injury or the death of a loved one, speaking with an experienced Palm Beach Gardens anesthesia malpractice lawyer as soon as possible can protect your legal rights and take the first step towards justice.
The Impact of Anesthesia Errors
During surgery, you trust the medical team to monitor every change in your condition. When that trust is broken, families often struggle to understand how something so catastrophic could happen.
Many families also encounter what feels like a wall of silence in the aftermath of an anesthesia mistake. After a serious complication at facilities like Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center or Jupiter Medical Center, medical providers rarely volunteer that an anesthesia mistake may have occurred. Instead, you could end up facing a steady stream of vague explanations and conflicting information as hospital representatives attempt to avoid any responsibility.
Types of Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia involves much more than putting a patient to sleep. The anesthesia provider has a duty to evaluate the patient before surgery and continuously monitor vital signs throughout the procedure. Their work isn’t done when the procedure is completed, as it’s also their job to safely manage your recovery afterward. A failure at any point in this process can lead to serious health complications.
Pre-Operative Failure
Every patient responds differently to anesthesia. Before surgery, the anesthesia provider must carefully review a patient’s medical records, allergies, prescription medications, and previous reactions to anesthesia to determine if the surgery can be completed safely.
Some of the most dangerous mistakes at this point involve failing to identify conditions like severe sleep apnea or heart disease that can dramatically increase the risk of complications. An anesthesia provider who rushes through this or skips it entirely will only put the patient at risk.
Intubation and Airway Problems
Many surgeries require the placement of a breathing tube to maintain the patient’s airway. If the tube is placed, a patient’s oxygen levels can fall rapidly. Even a few minutes of prolonged oxygen deprivation, known as hypoxia, can permanently damage the brain. These mistakes also have the potential to lead to cardiac arrest, which can be fatal.
Inadequate Monitoring
Once anesthesia begins, the anesthesiologist’s most important job is to continuously monitor the patient. Bad reactions to anesthesia don’t always happen immediately, so it’s crucial for the care provider to monitor things like a patient’s oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and carbon dioxide levels throughout the procedure.
Serious negligence may occur when warning signs are ignored or when the anesthesiologist or CRNA leaves the operating room without making sure that appropriate monitoring is in place. Even minor lapses in judgment can lead to life-threatening consequences.
Dosage Mistakes
Dosage errors are among the most serious errors that can occur in anesthesia. Giving a patient too much anesthesia can suppress their breathing, lower their blood pressure to dangerous levels, and even trigger cardiovascular collapse. On the flip side, giving too little anesthesia creates the horrifying possibility of anesthesia awareness, where a patient regains consciousness during surgery but remains unable to move or communicate. Either situation can lead to a medical malpractice claim.
Post-Anesthesia Care Unit Negligence
The end of surgery doesn’t eliminate the need for close monitoring. Patients recovering in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) remain vulnerable to serious complications like respiratory depression and internal bleeding, making it crucial for the continuous monitoring of patients until they safely recover from anesthesia.
Complying With Florida’s Medical Malpractice Laws
Medical malpractice cases follow different rules than most personal injury claims. Some of the most important regulations in Florida to be aware of include the following:
The Strict Two-Year Clock
Florida generally requires medical malpractice claims to be filed within two years from the date the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. This means you could have additional time to pursue a lawsuit if you aren’t immediately aware you are the victim of an anesthesia error.
However, that doesn’t mean your chance to file a lawsuit is open-ended. Florida also applies a four-year statute of repose in most cases, which means that regardless of when the injury is discovered, you’ll need to file your lawsuit within four years of the medical mistake.
Waiting too long can permanently end your ability to recover compensation, so the stakes for filing on time are high. Our firm can determine which deadlines apply to your specific circumstances and help you comply with these time limits.
The Pre-Suit Investigation Hurdle
There are hoops you’ll have to jump through with a medical malpractice lawsuit that aren’t present in most personal injury cases. Before a lawsuit may begin, the law requires your attorney to conduct a comprehensive pre-suit investigation into the medical care you received. This investigation includes obtaining relevant medical records and consulting with a qualified medical expert.
If the expert concludes that medical negligence likely occurred, your attorney must next obtain a verified written medical opinion supporting the claim. Your attorney must then serve every prospective defendant with a formal Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation before filing a lawsuit.
Once the notice is served, a mandatory 90-day pre-suit investigation period begins before a lawsuit may generally proceed. This makes it important to seek out legal help as early as possible following an anesthesia error.
Who Is Liable?
There could be multiple parties liable for your medical error, not just the anesthesiologist. Depending on the circumstances, responsibility may also extend to the nursing staff, supervising physicians, surgeons, or the medical facility itself. One of the most important roles your attorney can serve is identifying all the parties that could have contributed to your medical injuries.
What Does the Legal Process Look Like?
Understanding the legal process can help reduce some of the uncertainty families experience after a catastrophic medical event. You can expect the following when you work with our firm:
1. Free, Compassionate Case Evaluation
Your case begins with a confidential consultation where our attorney listens carefully to your concerns, reviews what occurred during your medical treatment, and evaluates whether you may have a case for compensation. If your condition prevents you from coming to our office, our team can come to you.
2. Comprehensive Medical Record Retrieval
Your medical records will be at the heart of your malpractice claim, and our team will promptly obtain the documentation you need from the hospital or surgical center.
3. Independent Medical Expert Review
Florida law requires review by a qualified medical expert before litigation begins, but finding those experts on your own can be difficult. We’ll work with an independent, board-certified anesthesiologist who carefully analyzes the records and determines whether the anesthesia providers violated the accepted standard of care.
4. Filing the Florida Pre-Suit Notice
Once the investigation supports a malpractice claim, your attorney serves the required Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation upon every responsible healthcare provider.
The mandatory 90-day pre-suit period gives healthcare providers an opportunity to investigate the claim while preserving your right to pursue litigation if a fair resolution cannot be reached.
What Compensation May Be Available?
The remedy for a successful medical malpractice case is financial compensation. Our Palm Beach Gardens medical malpractice attorneys could help you collect the following:
Economic Damages
Economic damages compensate you for measurable financial losses caused by medical negligence, and they often serve as the backbone for an anesthesia error settlement. The end goal of these damages is to return you to the same financial position you were in immediately before your procedure.
You could be entitled to damages for past and future medical care. What’s more, you might recover compensation for your lost wages if you are unable to work while you recover.
For families facing permanent brain injuries or catastrophic disabilities, these damages can also ensure that necessary medical care remains available for years to come without placing overwhelming financial burdens on loved ones.
Non-Economic Damages
There are also damages that can’t easily be tracked using invoices and receipts. You have the right to pursue non-economic damages, which are the subjective losses caused by a medical error. This might include your pain and suffering, mental anguish, or permanent disabilities, among other losses.
Although no amount of compensation can undo the harm caused by an anesthesia error, these damages acknowledge the life-changing consequences suffered by both the injured patient and those closest to them.
Speak With a Palm Beach Gardens Anesthesia Malpractice Attorney
Anesthesia malpractice cases are especially complex, so it’s vital that you have the support of a legal team that understands them. At Fogg Law Group, our attorneys will work tirelessly to ensure you get the justice you deserve.
If you are ready to explore your legal options, a Palm Beach Gardens anesthesia malpractice lawyer from our firm is here to help. Contact us for a free consultation today.