Common anesthesia errors in medical institutions in Ohio

Doctors in Ohio and elsewhere routinely use anesthesia during medical procedures. Unfortunately, mistakes in its administration can have lifelong consequences for patients. Some of the most common anesthesia errors are listed below.

Dosing mistakes

All medications are foreign substances that medical professionals introduce into your body to either elicit a reaction at the target receptor or just bind to the target receptor to inhibit a particular reaction. In other words, they interfere with the natural chemical reactions in the body until the patient achieves the desired result, which in this case is to block their nerves from sensing pain.

So, if a medical professional overdoses you, they will be more of the drug interfering with your body’s natural reactions. Hence, there might be consequences like brain damage, physical impairments and sometimes death. Underdosing might leave you conscious and aware of pain throughout the procedure, which can result in trauma.

Wrong drug

Sometimes, medical professionals may administer the wrong type of anesthesia or even mix them up with other medications, all of which can lead to serious complications for patients. This is because different drugs affect the body in different ways. Some might even react among themselves in the body to form toxic compounds that could endanger your life.

Inadequate monitoring

Inadequate monitoring is another significant source of anesthesia errors. It occurs when healthcare professionals fail to properly monitor a patient’s vital signs, like heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels, while they are under anesthesia. Such negligence can lead to oxygen deprivation, hypoxia, cardiac arrest and brain damage.

All patients in Ohio have a right to expect a certain standard of care from healthcare professionals and hospitals, and a failure to meet this standard can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits. If you believe your doctor or nurse has made an anesthesia error that led to your or your loved one’s injury or death, it is essential to know how to fight for justice as soon as you can since there are also time limits to when you can file a claim.