In the past, medical practitioners reserved anesthesia for conditions that required intrusive surgical procedures. Today, you can choose to receive anesthesia for even a dentist appointment. There are many benefits to making anesthesia more widely available, but it may increase your exposure to certain risks.
In fact, one 2019 study published by the National Library of Medicine points to the expansion of anesthesia as one of the factors related to the frequency of related medical errors. Unfortunately, when severe, these errors may result in cardiac arrest or even death.
Additional reasons for anesthesia blunders
Researchers identified many potential reasons for why incidents of anesthesia-related errors continued to increase. Health care professionals can prevent most of these problems:
- Failure to follow proper guidelines and patient procedures
- Poor communication among members of the anesthesia team
- Medication errors
- Lack of knowledge
Risks involved in anesthesia
Anesthesiologists reportedly inject half a million different drugs into patients during their careers. Most patients have predictable responses to these drugs, but some do have negative reactions. In fact, of every 100 patients, two may have a negative response that was preventable.
When something goes wrong, it is difficult to spot symptoms because they are not awake. Some dangerous conditions that may not present as obvious while someone is unconscious include the following:
- Hypotension
- Bronchospasm
- Arrhythmias
Anesthesia is a relatively safe procedure, but how safe it is may depend on the person who administers the treatment. Unfortunately, it may prove difficult for you to do background checks on every professional who may treat them. You may have only the reputation of the facility to go by.
