The jury in an Alabama wrongful death lawsuit has returned a hefty verdict of $20 million filed on behalf of a woman who died during surgery as a result of anesthesia malpractice.

Paulett Pettaway Hall was about to undergo exploratory surgery to identify the cause of severe stomach pains when she received a dose of anesthesia.  The lawsuit claims that Dr. Randal Boudreaux and Nurse Don Ortega failed to identify several risk factors for Hall, which were all listed in her medical records.

Once Hall was anesthetized, she started to breathe bile into her lungs and died shortly thereafter.  Hall’s family claims that had medical staff paid attention to her records, and properly examined her abdomen, she’d be alive today.

According to a study in the medical journal Anesthesiology, there were more than 2,200 anesthesia deaths between 1999 and 2005.  Some of these deaths were a direct result of the anesthesia, and others, like in this case, were from anesthesia complications.

If you suspect that someone you love may have been a victim of anesthesia malpractice, an experienced medical attorney can help.

Dr. Brian Godweber has lost the ability to practice medicine in the state of New York.  The decision came last week after the State Department of Health determined that he was guilty of medical negligence after he violated the proper practices to control infection when anesthetizing patients.

According to State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines, Godweber reused syringes while injecting patients with anesthetics.  Daines is quoted as saying that Godweber’s behavior was an “inappropriate and unacceptable practice that could have led to the spread of bloodborne diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV”.

On March 24, the Board found Dr. Goldweber guilty of gross negligence, negligence on more than one occasion, gross incompetence, incompetence on more than one occasion, and failure to comply with provisions governing the practice of medicine.

Source: www.empirestatenews.net

A lawsuit has been filed by the family of a Baptist minister in West Virginia who reportedly committed suicide after having surgery and not being given the proper amount of anesthesia. His family claims that in the two weeks before the suicide occurred, Sherman Sizemore, 73, believed that people were trying to bury him alive.

His family believes that his paranoia and traumatic stress syndrome stemmed from the fact that he was awake during a surgery without being able to move or cry out in pain. Since the incident, more attention has been drawn to anesthesia awareness, something that an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 people in the United States experience each year.

What is Anesthesia Awareness?

This experience occurs when the patient feels pain, pressure or other discomfort during surgery because they were not given enough anesthesia. The causes of anesthesia awareness can be due to doctor errors, faulty equipment or medical conditions that are so severe the patient can’t be safely put under the medication.

“It’s the first time I know of anyone succeeding in taking their own lives because of this, but suicidal thoughts are not all that uncommon” among such patients, explains Carol Weihrer, the president of the Virginia-based Anesthesia Awareness Campaign, which she founded after enduring her own anesthesia awareness experience.

Lawsuit Filed by Mourning Family

Sizemore was supposedly admitted to Raleigh General Hospital for exploratory surgery in order for doctors to diagnose the cause of his constant abdominal pain. The anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist employed at Raleigh Anesthesia Associates reportedly gave Sizemore anesthesia to prevent his muscles from twitching while he was in surgery.

However, the suit states that they didn’t give him enough general anesthesia to make him unconscious until 16 minutes after the first cut into his abdomen was initiated As a result, the family says in the suit that he was forced to suffer excruciating pain.

The lawsuit also claims that Sizemore wasn’t told that he hadn’t been properly anesthetized, and he emerged from surgery with tormenting doubts about whether his memories were real.

Only two months later, Sizemore shot himself to death. And, as the lawsuit states, his family says he had no history of psychological distress before having the surgery.

According to recent reports, a man living in New Jersey recently filed a lawsuit claiming he suffered life-altering injuries after having surgery. The man, 44, has been left permanently disabled from his injuries, which he and his caretakers insist was due to a mistake involving anesthesia.
The case claimed medical negligence against the medical center where the man was operated on and named his surgeon as a defendant as well. A settlement has reportedly been reached and the man has been awarded $2, 700,000.
Lawsuit Details
The plaintiff in the case, whose name has not been publicized, was admitted for a surgical repair of his Achilles tendon. While under anesthesia, the man’s anesthesiologist reportedly failed to respond to a change in vital signs over the course of several minutes. The patient’s oxygen saturation level was recorded as having decreased from 99% to 59% within this time. As a result, the man went into respiratory arrest and suffered a great deal of brain damage.
The man’s attorneys argued that due to this brain damage, which was negligently caused, he has been left with only short-term memory and has little communication skills. The man is also unable to take on full-time employment due to his injuries and was forced to quit his job working as a CFO health care system.
Defendants Attempt to Fight Back
The defendant anesthesiologist and the medical center argued against the plaintiff claiming they monitored him properly. They even blamed the patient claiming that his injuries were likely due to the “motion artifact” which occurred during the procedure because his hand was moving.
The settlement reached included a waiver of an $800,000 lien for medical expenses and $1.9 million in cash paid by the anesthesiologist’s insurance carrier.