Greenville Anesthesia Malpractice Lawyer
During anesthesia, patients rely on the anesthesia team to manage breathing, oxygen levels, blood pressure, heart rate, and medication throughout the procedure. An error in dosing, airway management, or monitoring can cause serious harm within minutes.
At Mooneyham Berry, our Greenville anesthesia attorneys represent patients injured by preventable anesthesia errors during surgery and other medical procedures. These injuries can involve oxygen deprivation, brain injury, cardiac complications, anesthesia awareness, and other serious outcomes.
If an anesthesia error harmed you or someone you love, contact our lawyers to discuss your medical records and options.
What Counts as Anesthesia Malpractice
Anesthesia carries known risks, and a complication does not automatically mean the anesthesia provider made an error. The question is whether the care meets the appropriate standard before, during, and after the procedure.
An anesthesia error may involve an incorrect drug or dose, inadequate monitoring, improper airway management, or a delayed response to signs of distress. These events can overlap with a broader surgical error when they occur during an operation.
Anesthesia claims also fall within the broader area of medical malpractice, but anesthesia care extends well beyond the operating room. Epidurals during labor, endoscopy, dental sedation, and some diagnostic procedures can all involve anesthesia providers responsible for medication, monitoring, and airway management.
Our anesthesia lawyers examine the records specific to that care to determine when a complication develops and how the anesthesia team responds.
Common Types of Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors can occur during preparation, medication administration, airway management, or monitoring. Our anesthesia attorneys handle cases involving:
- Medication overdoses, underdoses, or administration of the wrong drug
- Failure to monitor oxygen levels, heart rate, blood pessure, or other vital signs
- Improper intubation or delayed recognition of a compromised airway
- Anesthesia awareness during a procedure
- Failure to account for allergies, medications, or relevant medical history
- Delayed recognition and treatment of malignant hyperthermia or another acute reaction
Anesthesia Awareness During Surgery
Anesthesia awareness occurs when a patient becomes conscious during a procedure but may be unable to move or communicate. Some patients remember sounds or pressure, while others experience pain during the procedure.
The effects can continue after the physical recovery. Patients may experience anxiety, sleep problems, intrusive memories, or other psychological symptoms related to the event.
Anesthesia records can help establish which medications were administered, when they were given, and whether changes in vital signs indicated that the patient was becoming conscious.
Airway Management and Oxygen Deprivation
Managing the airway is one of the anesthesia team's primary responsibilities. An improperly positioned breathing tube or an unrecognized airway obstruction can prevent adequate oxygen from reaching the brain and other organs.
Capnography measures carbon dioxide in exhaled air and can provide an early warning of ventilation problems. Pulse oximetry provides additional information about the patient's oxygen saturation.
When airway problems occur, the timing of recognition and correction becomes critical. We examine monitoring data, intubation records, oxygen levels, and the anesthesia team's response to determine how long the patient may have experienced inadequate ventilation.
Why Modern Anesthesia Malpractice Still Happens
Modern anesthesia is significantly safer than it was several decades ago. Research published in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International found that anesthesia-related mortality declined dramatically as monitoring, medications, and safety standards improved.
Continuous pulse oximetry, capnography, blood pressure readings, heart rate monitoring, and other measures allow anesthesia providers to track a patient's condition throughout a procedure. These systems are designed to identify changes before they become irreversible emergencies.
That monitoring also creates a detailed record. When a patient experiences oxygen deprivation, cardiac complications, or another serious event, the anesthesia chart may show when vital signs begin changing and how the provider responds.
A complication can develop quickly even with appropriate care. The concern is whether warning signs appear without a timely response or required monitoring is incomplete.
Malignant Hyperthermia Requires a Rapid Response
Malignant hyperthermia is a rare, life-threatening reaction to certain anesthesia medications. Once symptoms develop, the anesthesia team must recognize the emergency and begin treatment quickly.
Changes can include rising carbon dioxide levels, increased heart rate, muscle rigidity, and rapidly increasing body temperature. Because the condition has recognized warning signs and an established treatment protocol, the anesthesia record can provide important evidence about when the reaction begins and what happens next.
A delayed response can allow the patient's condition to deteriorate rapidly. We examine medication records, monitoring data, temperature readings, and treatment timing when malignant hyperthermia is suspected.
Proving an Anesthesia Error Claim
The anesthesia record provides a detailed timeline of the patient's condition before, during, and after a procedure. It can include minute-by-minute vital signs, medication doses, airway information, and notes documenting complications or changes in the patient's condition.
A qualified anesthesiology expert can compare that record with the care expected under the circumstances. Our anesthesia attorneys typically:
- Obtain the complete anesthesia record and monitoring data
- Review medication doses against the patient's weight, allergies, medications, and medical history
- Examine oxygen levels, blood pressure, heart rate, ventilation, and other recorded vital signs
- Consult a board-certified anesthesiologist about monitoring, medication decisions, and response times
- Determine whether the anesthesia error caused the injury or contributed alongside another complication
Separating an Anesthesia Error From a Surgical Complication
When an injury occurs during surgery, more than one medical team may be involved. A sudden drop in blood pressure, cardiac event, or oxygen deprivation may relate to the operation, anesthesia care, or a combination of both.
We compare the anesthesia record with operative notes, nursing documentation, and other medical evidence. The timing can show which complication develops first, what the anesthesia team observes, and how each provider responds.
Anesthesia Errors Outside the Operating Room
Anesthesia care is not limited to major surgery. Labor epidurals, colonoscopies, dental procedures, outpatient procedures, and diagnostic imaging may involve sedation or anesthesia.
The setting may change, but the anesthesia provider remains responsible for appropriate dosing, monitoring, and airway management. An improperly administered labor epidural or oversedation during an outpatient procedure can cause serious injury.
These cases may involve different records and providers than an operating-room case. We identify who administered the anesthesia, what monitoring was used, and how the patient's condition changed during the procedure.
Why Choose Mooneyham Berry for an Anesthesia Error Case?
Anesthesia cases can turn on seconds or minutes of monitoring data, medication records, and changes in vital signs. Mooneyham Berry brings more than 40 years of combined litigation experience to cases involving complex medical evidence and serious injuries.
Trial Experience With Complex Medical Evidence
Our firm has experience preparing cases where medical records, expert opinions, and causation are heavily disputed. That experience includes more than 100 cases tried to verdict in South Carolina state and federal courts.
Our team also includes a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and brings complex civil litigation experience from South Carolina and Georgia. We apply that trial background when preparing anesthesia cases involving oxygen deprivation, brain injury, cardiac complications, and other serious outcomes.
Experience With the Medical Defense Perspective
Our team includes prior experience representing hospitals, physicians, and their insurers. That perspective gives us firsthand knowledge of how medical defense teams evaluate monitoring gaps, response times, causation, and expert testimony.
An anesthesia provider may argue that an abnormal reading reflects a documentation issue rather than a failure in care. Other cases involve disputes over whether the injury results from anesthesia, the procedure itself, or the patient's underlying condition.
We account for those arguments when reviewing the anesthesia record and developing the medical evidence.
Access to Qualified Anesthesiology Experts
Anesthesiology is a specialized field, and these cases often require review by a physician who understands the medications, monitoring standards, and airway decisions involved.
We work with qualified anesthesiology experts who can evaluate detailed anesthesia records and explain what the monitoring data shows. That allows us to match the expert review to the specific anesthesia issue rather than relying on a general medical opinion.
What Our Anesthesia Lawyers Can Help You Recover
An anesthesia error can result in injuries ranging from temporary complications to permanent brain damage or disability. Our anesthesia lawyers evaluate the immediate losses caused by the injury as well as medical and financial needs that may continue for years.
Depending on the circumstances, compensation may include:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation and ongoing treatment
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
- Long-term assistance or in-home care
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent brain or neurological impairment
- Psychological harm following anesthesia awareness
- Wrongful death damages when an anesthesia error proves fatal
Oxygen deprivation can leave a patient with cognitive, neurological, or physical limitations requiring lifelong care. In serious cases, we may work with treating physicians and life care planners to identify future medical needs and estimate the cost of that care over the patient's lifetime.
Anesthesia awareness presents a different type of harm. A patient may recover physically while experiencing lasting anxiety, nightmares, intrusive memories, or other psychological effects from being conscious during a procedure. We consider those consequences alongside physical injuries when documenting the full impact of an anesthesia error.
Get Answers After a Serious Anesthesia Error
When you were unconscious or heavily sedated, you may have no way of knowing what occurred during the minutes that caused your injury. The anesthesia record can provide information you could never obtain from your own memory, including medication doses, oxygen levels, blood pressure changes, airway problems, and how quickly the anesthesia team responded.
Mooneyham Berry has the litigation experience and access to qualified experts needed to examine that evidence. Our anesthesia lawyers can determine whether the records support a preventable error and identify how that error contributed to the harm you or your loved one suffered.
Hospitals and insurers have access to these records and their own medical experts. You should have someone examining the same evidence on your behalf.
If you or someone you love suffered brain damage, anesthesia awareness, a serious airway complication, or another injury related to anesthesia, contact our Greenville office. Let us examine the medical evidence and determine whether you have grounds to pursue a claim.