Patients undergoing surgery trust their medical team to keep them fully unconscious and free from pain during a procedure. When that fails, the consequences can be devastating. In rare cases, a patient becomes conscious during surgery but remains paralyzed by anesthesia — aware of the procedure, unable to move, and sometimes able to feel pain. This is known as anesthesia awareness, and it can lead to long-term psychological trauma.
When anesthesia awareness happens because of preventable error, it may form the basis of a medical negligence claim. Victims often speak with a Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer to determine whether improper anesthesia management, monitoring failure, or dosing mistakes were involved.
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When Anesthesia Awareness Causes Severe Psychological Trauma
What Causes Anesthesia Awareness?
Anesthesia awareness occurs in an estimated 1-2 out of every 1,000 surgeries. Most cases of anesthesia awareness involve only flashes or a moment or two of brief consciousness, during which the patient becomes aware of their surroundings, hears the medical team’s conversation, and feels pressure or pain. However, in the worst cases of anesthesia awareness, the patient is conscious and able to feel pain but unable to move, react, or alert the surgical team to their condition of awareness.
The most common causes of anesthesia awareness include the following:
- Insufficient anesthesia dosage or administration
- Anesthesia resistance (a patient with an atypical requirement for increased dosage)
- Surgery type, for instance, some procedures, such as heart surgeries and C-section require lower levels of anesthesia
- An anesthesia medical device malfunction
- Failure to take a complete patient history
Considering a patient’s complete medical history is crucial when determining the correct type, dosage, and administration method for anesthesia during surgery. Some patients have a higher risk factor for anesthesia awareness due to medical conditions, smoking, or substance abuse disorders.
Severe Psychological Trauma From Anesthesia Awareness
It’s estimated that an alarming 30,000 patients suffer anesthesia awareness each year. The consequences of anesthesia awareness are pervasive when the awareness lasts more than a brief instance and includes awareness of sensation, such as excruciating intraoperative pain. According to data gleaned from multiple case studies, patients who experienced anesthesia awareness experienced the following:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Sleeplessness
- Nightmares
- Preoccupation with death
- Difficulty managing daily routine tasks
- Flashbacks of terror, pain, and paralysis when falling asleep
- Avoidance of hospitals and clinical settings
The severe psychological trauma stemming from anesthesia awareness was noted in case studies prior to the recognition of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and described as traumatic neurosis. Not only does a patient suffer severe distress from pain during anesthesia awareness, but also from the feeling of helplessness.
Proving Medical Malpractice In Anesthesia Awareness Claims
Anesthesia awareness constitutes medical malpractice. A doctor’s actions become medical malpractice when a doctor-patient relationship was in place at the time the injury occurred. They owed a legal duty to the patient to meet the medical community’s accepted standard of care; they violated their duty through negligence or medical mistake, and the violation of duty caused harm to the patient.
Severe psychological trauma and its impacts on the patient are the damages in a medical malpractice claim.
What Is the Legal Remedy for Anesthesia Awareness Trauma?
An anesthesia error is medical malpractice. While no legal process can erase the pervasive psychological trauma of anesthesia awareness, a successful medical malpractice claim brings compensation for economic damages, such as therapy and counseling costs, lost earnings, and compensation for pain, suffering, and emotional trauma. Compensation for the severe psychological trauma associated with anesthesia awareness is often substantial.