We often perceive that the most dangerous stage of surgery is the procedure itself. Many of us who undergo surgery fear the process. More often than not, we do not realize that sometimes the anaesthesia used during the operation is the hazardous stage of the process. It has been observed that anaesthesia errors or mistakes in its administration take place in a lot of our hospital operating rooms, a horrible truth that most of us do not have knowledge of until it takes the life of a friend or a loved one.

On the other hand, the use of anaesthesia is very significant as its introduction in the medical world has made life saving surgeries possible. Today, surgery is next to impossible if surgeons do not use this medical wonder. Further, people prefer anaesthesia to alleviate the pain of undergoing surgery.

Be that as it may, anaesthesia errors or mistakes still happen. But why do anaesthesia errors occur? Let us see the top three reasons why these happen.

First reason is poor communication between staff members in the hospital. This poor communication could be ascribed to personal conflicts, faulty procedures of technicians in dealing with anaesthesia and even fatigue. Oftentimes, errors in documenting the patient’s age and weight, medical history and past reactions to anaesthesia result in anaesthesia error.

Second reason is the inadequate background of technicians in the administration of anaesthesia . This may be attributed to the fact that most technicians gain their knowledge of the job once they are in hospital and operating rooms. Thus, sometimes it results in faulty administration of anaesthesia to patients.

Lastly, anaesthesia errors take place when hospital personnel do not read charts carefully. Even though the patient’s records are noted down correctly but other personnel may have looked at it the other way then the administration of anaesthesia would be a mistake.

What are the most common types of errors in the administration of anaesthesia ? Below are some of the most common type of anaesthesia errors:

• Too much anaesthesia

• Too little anaesthesia

• Dangerous drug interactions with the anaesthesia

• Improper administration of anaesthesia to a patient with allergy

• Delayed delivery of anaesthesia

• Inadequate labeling of products

• Failure to orienting patients with proper instructions on pre-surgical requisites like not eating or drinking

Although there are a lot of efforts to eliminate anaesthesia errors in our operating rooms, documented cases are still on the rise. In the United States, one in every 200,000 patients die due to anaesthesia errors. If you or a loved one has been a victim of anaesthesia error, you need to contact a reputable medical malpractice lawyer who can help you ease the burden by getting the perpetrator pay for this error.