Patients rely on doctors, nurses, pharmacists, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare professionals to administer medications safely. When a preventable mistake involving a prescription drug or anesthesia causes serious harm, the patient may have questions about whether the error qualifies as medical malpractice.
At Riedmiller, Andersen & Scott, we represent patients and families in Wichita who have been harmed by medical negligence. Medication and anesthesia errors can potentially support a Kansas medical malpractice claim when a healthcare provider fails to meet the applicable standard of care and that failure causes an injury.
When Can a Medication Error Become Medical Malpractice?
Not every unexpected reaction to medication is malpractice. Prescription drugs can have known risks and side effects even when healthcare providers do everything appropriately.
The legal issue generally becomes whether a healthcare professional acted negligently and whether that negligence caused the patient's harm.
Medication errors can occur at several stages of treatment, including when a drug is prescribed, dispensed, prepared, or administered.
Potential examples include:
- Prescribing the wrong medication
- Giving a patient the wrong dosage
- Administering medication to the wrong patient
- Failing to account for a known allergy
- Failing to consider dangerous drug interactions
- Misreading or incorrectly entering a prescription
- Administering medication at the wrong time
- Failing to appropriately monitor a patient after medication is given
- Continuing a drug despite signs of a serious adverse reaction
Determining whether an error amounts to malpractice requires a careful review of the patient's medical records and the circumstances surrounding the treatment.
Who Can Be Responsible for a Medication Error?
Medication safety often involves several healthcare professionals. As a result, identifying where an error occurred can require tracing the medication from the original prescription through administration.
Depending on the circumstances, potentially responsible parties could include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, clinics, or other healthcare providers.
For example, a Wichita physician might prescribe an appropriate medication and dosage, but a separate error could occur when the prescription is filled or the medication is administered. In another case, the problem may originate with the prescribing physician's failure to review the patient's known allergies or current medications.
Our Wichita medical malpractice attorneys can investigate the treatment records and determine where a preventable medication error may have occurred.
Can a Wrong Dosage Lead to a Malpractice Claim?
Dosage errors can cause severe injuries.
Some medications have narrow therapeutic ranges, meaning relatively small dosage mistakes can potentially have serious consequences. Too much of a medication may cause toxicity or overdose, while too little may leave a dangerous medical condition inadequately treated.
Dosage mistakes can result from incorrect calculations, transcription errors, electronic record problems, miscommunication, or failure to account for relevant patient characteristics.
The consequences can be especially serious when medications involve anticoagulation, insulin, opioids, cardiovascular treatment, or other drugs requiring careful administration and monitoring.
A malpractice investigation may examine who calculated the dose, who approved it, how it was administered, and what monitoring occurred afterward.
What Are Anesthesia Errors?
Anesthesia allows patients to undergo surgeries and other procedures without experiencing pain or, depending on the type of anesthesia, remaining conscious.
Administering anesthesia requires careful preparation and monitoring. Providers may need to consider the patient's medical history, medications, allergies, weight, previous reactions to anesthesia, and other risk factors.
Potential anesthesia errors can include:
- Administering too much or too little anesthesia
- Failing to review relevant medical history
- Failing to monitor vital signs appropriately
- Delayed recognition of oxygen deprivation
- Improper airway management
- Failing to respond to dangerous changes in blood pressure
- Administering a drug despite a known allergy
- Failing to recognize an adverse reaction
- Errors involving anesthesia equipment
Whether one of these events constitutes Kansas medical malpractice depends on the applicable standard of care and whether the error caused injury.
Can Anesthesia Errors Cause Serious Injuries?
Yes. Anesthesia affects critical body functions, so mistakes can have severe consequences.
Depending on the type and severity of the error, a patient may experience brain injury from insufficient oxygen, cardiovascular complications, nerve damage, aspiration, organ damage, prolonged unconsciousness, or other significant medical problems.
In the most serious cases, anesthesia complications can be fatal.
However, the existence of a complication does not by itself prove malpractice. Some adverse outcomes can occur even when anesthesia is administered appropriately.
A Wichita medical malpractice case generally requires evidence connecting a healthcare provider's negligent conduct to the patient's injury.
What Role Does Patient Monitoring Play?
Monitoring is particularly important when patients receive anesthesia or medications capable of causing significant adverse reactions.
Healthcare professionals may need to monitor factors such as:
- Heart rate
- Blood pressure
- Oxygen levels
- Breathing
- Level of consciousness
- Medication response
- Signs of allergic reaction
Monitoring responsibilities depend on the procedure, medication, patient's condition, and other circumstances.
A healthcare provider may administer the correct medication but still potentially act negligently if warning signs develop and are not appropriately recognized or addressed.
For example, a patient receiving anesthesia during a Wichita surgical procedure may experience a dangerous change in oxygen saturation. The response to that change and the speed with which medical professionals recognize it can become important issues in a malpractice investigation.
How Do You Prove a Medication or Anesthesia Error?
Medical malpractice cases generally require more than showing that a patient experienced a bad outcome.
The evidence must establish that the healthcare provider failed to meet the applicable standard of care and that this failure caused the patient's injury.
Medical records are often central to that analysis.
Relevant evidence may include:
- Prescription records
- Medication administration records
- Pharmacy records
- Hospital charts
- Anesthesia records
- Vital-sign monitoring records
- Laboratory results
- Operative reports
- Electronic medical records
- Notes from physicians and nurses
Expert medical testimony is also commonly important in malpractice cases. Qualified experts may be needed to explain what a reasonably careful healthcare professional should have done and how the defendant's conduct differed from that standard.
What if the Hospital Blames an Individual Provider?
Healthcare errors sometimes involve failures at multiple levels.
A hospital might argue that an individual physician, nurse, or other provider was responsible for the mistake. An individual provider may point to inaccurate records, inadequate staffing, faulty communication systems, or errors made by someone else.
Rather than accepting one party's explanation, a thorough investigation may need to examine the entire sequence of events.
For medication cases, this can mean determining who ordered the drug, who entered the order, who dispensed it, who administered it, and what safeguards were in place.
For anesthesia cases, the investigation may involve preoperative evaluation, administration records, monitoring data, and the response to complications.
What Compensation May Be Available After a Medical Error?
A serious medication or anesthesia injury can affect nearly every part of a patient's life.
Depending on the circumstances, a Kansas medical malpractice claim may seek compensation for qualifying damages involving:
- Additional medical treatment
- Hospitalization
- Rehabilitation
- Lost income
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Future medical needs
- Other losses caused by the injury
When an error results in death, surviving family members may have separate legal options under Kansas law.
The value and viability of any claim depend on the specific facts, medical evidence, and applicable legal requirements.
Why Is It Important to Investigate a Suspected Medical Error Promptly?
Patients do not always know immediately that a medication or anesthesia error occurred.
A family may simply be told that there was a "complication." In other cases, a patient experiences an unexpected deterioration and receives little explanation about what happened.
Obtaining and reviewing medical records can help establish a clearer timeline.
Kansas medical malpractice claims are also subject to filing deadlines. Because determining the applicable deadline can depend on the circumstances, patients should avoid assuming they have unlimited time to investigate a potential claim.
Seeking legal guidance early can also help preserve medical documentation and other evidence.
Talk With Riedmiller, Andersen & Scott About a Wichita Medical Malpractice Claim
Medication and anesthesia errors can potentially constitute medical malpractice when a healthcare provider's negligence causes a patient serious harm. Determining whether malpractice occurred requires examining the treatment provided, the applicable standard of care, and the connection between the error and the resulting injury.
If you are dealing with injuries caused by a suspected medication or anesthesia error in Wichita, our attorneys are here to help. Call Riedmiller, Andersen & Scott today or connect with us online to schedule a consultation.
