A Cook County, Illinois, woman has filed a lawsuit against her anesthesiologist. She alleges that he administered an inappropriate dose of a sedative prior to her undergoing shoulder surgery.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday, May 8, 2017 against the woman’s doctor, his employer, Continental Anesthesia, Ltd. and its management company, RM Anesthesia LLC, in Cook County Circuit Court.
In the woman’s lawsuit, she and her attorneys chronicle how she went in to have what she expected to be a routine shoulder surgery on an earlier, undisclosed date. She maintains that her surgery ultimately proved to be far from a typical one. The woman allegedly experienced acute physical complications immediately following the surgery.
The plaintiff asserts that her physical symptoms can be attributed to an inappropriate dose of the sedative bupivacaine. This drug was administered to the woman prior to the start of her shoulder surgery. It’s unclear as to how the plaintiff was able to narrow in on the anesthesia she was administered as being at the root of her ensuing surgery complications.
The woman is requesting at least $50,000 in damages to cover her medical bills, pain and suffering, lost capacity and other expenses. She also is requesting that the jury in this case reimburse her court costs as well.
Doctors have a duty to provide their patients with a high standard of care. This includes ensuring that they do everything within their power to ensure that a patient doesn’t experience any undue harm, particularly when it comes to permanent injury.
Holding a doctor financially accountable for his or her actions is seen as a type of punitive measure to ensure that doctors think twice about their future actions. If you’ve been injured in a case of surgical error, you should discuss your legal matter with a Chicago medical malpractice attorney.
Source: Cook County Record, “Woman claims Continental, RM and anesthetist were negligent before surgery,” Louie Torres, June 06, 2017