Medical Malpractice Attorneys In Philadelphia

Anesthesia errors may be the result of negligence by doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other medical staff who assist in administering anesthetic drugs.

Types of Anesthesia

• General anesthesia — renders a patient unconscious
• Spinal and epidural anesthesia — injected into the spinal cord and most commonly used during childbirth
• Local anesthesia — numbs a specific part of the body
• Dissociative anesthesia — creates a trance-like state
• Regional anesthesia — numbs larger areas of the body

Common Errors

• Administering too much or too little of a drug
• Improperly intubating the patient
• Failing to establish intravenous access for a patient
• Failing to monitor a patient’s vital signs while anesthetized
• Waiting too long to administer anesthesia
• Administering the wrong type of anesthesia drug
• Failing to prevent interactions with other medications
• Failing to monitor a patient or to properly administer oxygen during surgery
• Failing to instruct patients on limiting food or liquid intake prior to surgery
• Administering anesthetic drugs to which the patient is allergic

Most Common Injuries and Outcomes

• Brain injury
• Dizziness and confusion
• Abnormal pulse or heart problems
• Brain or organ damage
• Blood pressure complications
• Vein, artery, and nerve damage
• Spinal cord injury
• Strokes and seizures
• Larynx damage
• Serious allergic reaction
• Respiratory problems
• Blood clots
• Anesthesia awareness (a patient is conscious during the procedure and experiences pain, but is unable to physically respond)
• Coma or death

What should be the happiest time of any parent’s life can be turned upside down by medical negligence. When a doctor treating a pregnant woman breaches their duty of care, the baby may be at risk of serious injuries that can be permanent and impair the child’s quality of life. Negligent care not only exposes babies to needless risk, it can also jeopardized the health and safety of the mother.

Common Errors

• Failing to monitor the mother and baby’s vital signs before and during delivery
• Failing to promptly perform an emergency cesarean section delivery when a baby is in distress, potentially resulting in cerebral palsy, brain injury or death
• Improperly using forceps or a vacuum extractor to remove a child from the birth canal
• Brachial plexus injuries and palsy due improper management of shoulder dystocia

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While individuals often visit an emergency room to receive life-saving care, many leave with serious injuries or pass away as a result of the negligence of a doctor or other healthcare professional.

Common Errors

• Failure to perform required tests or studies
• Delayed or misdiagnosis
• Medication errors leading to incorrect dosage, prescription interactions, or allergic reactions
• Misreading or reporting of x-ray or other test results
• Delayed treatment
• Contaminated or wrong blood type
• Premature discharge
• Failure to follow up after discharge
• Failure to communicate all test results to patients and their primary care physicians

Negligence on behalf of doctors or other healthcare personnel who work at a hospital can often lead to serious injuries or death of visiting patients.

Common Errors

• Delayed or misdiagnosis
• Medication errors leading to incorrect dosage, prescription interactions, or allergic reactions
• Delayed treatment
• Misreading or reporting of x-ray or other test results
• Failure to timely consult with appropriate specialists
• Surgical errors
• Premature discharge
• Failure to institute appropriate screening practices/competency requirements for healthcare professionals
• Failure to communicate all test results to patients and their primary care physicians
• Failure to have in place or enforce policies and procedures regarding medical care
• Injuries resulting from patient falls

As with every employer, hospitals and hospital systems are liable for the negligent acts of their employees. This can include physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and the aides who transport patients.

Common Hospital Employee Errors

• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to timely and accurately comply with medical orders
• Mistakes in prescribing or administering medication
• Failure to properly monitor a patient
• Failure to regularly take a patient’s vital signs
• Failure to keep proper records
• Failure to respond to a patient’s call quickly enough
• Failure to document or monitor patients who are fall risks
• Failure to report suspicious symptoms to the physician
• Failure to check for bed sores
• Failure to follow a doctor’s instructions

According to the advocacy group Consumer Reports, tens of millions of patients rely on medical devices to diagnose, manage, and maintain a variety of health conditions — but these products are loosely regulated and often lack thorough testing before being placed on the market. With little regulation or standardized procedure for reporting potential problems, medical device defects and errors often go undetected until a significant number of patient injuries or deaths occur.

Common Medical Devices

• Diagnostic devices, used for both hospital and in-home testing, such as lab equipment and home test strips
• Implanted devices used to correct damage and injuries, such as pacemakers, monitors, and surgical mesh
• Artificial body parts, joints, and organs
• External devices, used by hospitals to regulate vital functions, such as heart pumps and ventilators
• Internal maintenance devices used to maintain organ function, such as pacemakers and coronary stents

Learn more about Medical Device Litigation

When a patient is given the wrong type or wrong dosage of medication, or is given a medication that is not safe for them to take due to other drugs or health conditions, they may suffer serious harm or even death.

Common Errors

• Labeling errors leading to the patient taking, or being administered, the drug by mistake
• Dosage errors based on an act of carelessness or because the incorrect dosage amount was written on a patient’s chart
• Medication mix-ups due to typos or careless provider actions
• Dangerous drug interactions with other medications or health conditions

Potential Sources of Liability

• The doctor who prescribed the medication
• The nurse who administered the medication
• The hospital where the doctor or nurse is employed
• The pharmacist who filled the prescription
• The medication manufacturer (in the case of a manufacturing or labeling error)

Learn more about Pharmaceutical Litigation

When we are sick, injured, or suffering with unexplained symptoms, we take for granted that our medical providers will be able to promptly diagnose our condition and provide the treatment we need to recover. Unfortunately, in an alarming number of cases, this doesn’t happen. Medical mistakes and errors are on the rise throughout the country, and cases involving misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of medical conditions are increasingly common.

Studies conducted by the Institute of Medicine show that as many as 12 million people each year suffer from diagnostic errors made by healthcare providers, leading to roughly 10% of all patient deaths. Unfortunately, these cases often go unreported by patients who are unaware that an error occurred or are unsure of their legal rights in holding their doctors accountable.

Common Errors

• Medical misdiagnosis of serious conditions resulting in delays in treatment and worsening of patient health, such as with cancer and heart disease
• Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of emergency situations that require an immediate medical response, such as with strokes or aneurysms
• Diagnostic errors that result in treatments that contraindicate symptoms, such as prescribing asthma inhalers for patients suffering from pneumonia
• Failure to diagnose symptoms of major illnesses or diseases
• Failure to detect emergency situations requiring immediate care
• Mistakenly diagnosing and treating patients for conditions they do not have

Learn more about Failure to Diagnose Cancer

All surgeries come with inherent risks, including the possibility that a surgeon or hospital staff member might make a mistake. Often, these mistakes can occur due to inattention on the part of medical professionals, and the results can be devastating — even deadly — for the patient.

Common Errors

• Performing unnecessary surgery
  Operating on the wrong part of the body
• Using surgical tools in a negligent manner
• Failing to properly sterilize tools or the operating room
• Improperly administering anesthesia
• Causing accidental damage to nerves or muscles during the operation
• Failing to prevent avoidable postoperative complications, such as infections

After an operation, patients are still at risk of suffering injuries, complications, or even death. In fact, you are rarely at more risk for a serious infection than you are during and immediately after a surgical operation. Medical professionals must take proper precautions to reduce the risks of any postoperative complications — or they may be liable for resulting injuries.

Common Errors

• Failure to monitor a patient’s vital signs
• Failure to check for common postoperative complications, such as bleeding and blood clots
• Failure to prevent infections
• Improperly administering necessary medications
• Inadequately warning a patient of postoperative risks