If you’ve experienced complications from anesthesia during a medical procedure, you may wonder whether your suffering resulted from standard risks or preventable errors.
Understanding common anesthesia medication errors helps you determine whether medical negligence contributed to your injuries.
Medication substitution errors
Substitution errors occur when you receive an incorrect medication instead of the one your procedure required. These mistakes often happen due to look-alike packaging, sound-alike drug names or improper storage arrangements where similar medications are placed near each other. You might experience unexpected side effects, allergic reactions or lack of proper anesthesia effect when substitution errors occur. When these errors result in serious harm to you, they often represent clear deviations from the standard of care that medical professionals owe you as a patient.
Incorrect dosing administration
Dosing errors involve receiving too much or too little anesthesia medication during your procedure. These mistakes frequently result from miscalculations, decimal point errors or confusion about weight-based dosing requirements. If you received an overdose, you may have experienced respiratory depression, cardiac complications or brain damage. Conversely, if you received too little anesthesia, you might have suffered the trauma of awareness during surgery. These dosing errors often form the foundation for substantial malpractice claims when they cause preventable harm.
Improper insertion and administration techniques
Insertion errors include incorrect placement of medication delivery devices such as IV lines, epidural catheters or regional blocks in your body. If you experienced unexpected pain, nerve damage or inadequate anesthesia, technical insertion errors may be responsible. Improper technique during administration, including too-rapid injection or failure to aspirate before injection, can also lead to serious complications that you should never have to endure during proper medical care.
Critical medication omissions
Omission errors occur when you don’t receive necessary medications during your anesthesia process. If you experienced prolonged sedation, unexpected pain or complications related to underlying health conditions during or after your procedure, important medications might have been omitted from your care. These errors often represent significant deviations from established protocols designed to protect your safety.
Seeking legal guidance after experiencing complications from anesthesia helps you determine whether medical negligence occurred and pursue appropriate compensation for the harm you’ve suffered.
