Anaesthesia Malpractice
The Tragedy Of Anaesthesia Malpractice
One of the most serious medical blunders is anaesthesia malpractice; when a patient is administered the incorrect mix or dosage of anaesthetic medications whilst on the operating table. In the event of this happening, serious complications can arise that can easily snowball and cause major complications in surgery, and sometimes even death. Unfortunately, with South Africa having a fairly stressed health care system which consists of a doctor-patient ratio of one to 4,000 instead of the one to 1,500 as recommended by the World Health Organisation, anaesthesia malpractice is disturbingly common. Many of our doctors are highly overworked and stressed, which can have devastating results when it comes to a patient requiring anaesthesia for an operation.
Some of the most common cases of anaesthesia malpractice involve spinal anaesthesia and sadly, a disturbingly high proportion of these cases occur as a result of lack of experience of the healthcare professional in question. This is because administering spinal anaesthesia is not simply about inserting a needle into a patient’s back, it is also about the state of their health at that particular time. For example, if a patient is dehydrated, has lost a lot of blood or has an internal infection and they are given the incorrect or incorrectly administered dosage of anaesthetic, their blood pressure may suddenly plunge and there is a large chance that they may go into cardiac arrest and lose consciousness, often leading to death.
Generally, in order to lessen the likelihood of anaesthesia malpractice, a patient should also have been properly examined and declared ‘anaesthesia fit’ before an operation. If you’ve been sick – even if with a cold or flu – up to six weeks prior to your operation, or if you are an asthmatic or diabetic or have heart problems, this should all be taken into consideration when determining whether you should be given anaesthetic at all or given general anaesthetic as opposed to spinal anaesthetic.
If you suspect a case of anaesthesia malpractice, contact Adele van der Walt Attorneys Inc for expert medico-legal advice.
For more information on this subject, please give us a call at 012 460 3668 (SA) or e-mail us at clare@avdw.co.za
