Pennsylvania Anesthesia Awareness Lawyers
When problems with anesthesia arise during surgery, patients could experience a condition known as “Anesthesia Awareness.” This is basically a condition where patients are fully awake, yet unable to move or let their doctors know about the pain and trauma they are experiencing.
The emotional trauma caused by this experience could result in severe psychological damage. Some people are even known to have killed themselves because they could not withstand the depression and severe anxiety.
If you or someone you know has been in a situation where you were awake during surgery, you could be entitled to significant compensation for the emotional and physical pain you underwent. You need the help and guidance of an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney who will help protect your legal rights and help you secure the compensation you rightfully deserve.
Anesthesia awareness or staying awake during surgery could occur if the anesthesia is ineffective, not properly administered or if it is poorly controlled. The patients in these cases are partially or fully awake during surgery. They hear sounds and feel pain from the surgical procedure, but have no control over what is going on.
But doctors today do have control over what is going on. Many experts believe that anesthesia problems can be reduced or eliminated with proper use of new equipment such as brain wave monitors or alarms to notify doctors that the concentration anesthesia is too low to put the patient to sleep during surgery. These machines usually cost about $3,000. While these monitors may help doctors prevent anesthesia problems, recent studies show that measuring anesthetic gases exhaled by patients may be as good a measure of whether the anesthesia is working.
The bottom line is anesthesiologists must exercise extreme care during surgery to make sure that proper levels of anesthesia are maintained. Too little may result in anesthesia awareness or pain and emotional trauma during surgery. Yet, too much may lead to long-term side effects. In most of these cases, anesthesia problems resulting in a patient being awake during surgery can be directly attributed to a doctor’s failure to follow the proper standard of medical care. If you or a loved one has experienced anesthesia problems that caused you to remain awake during surgery and experience severe physical pain or emotional trauma,