Claiming Compensation for Anaesthetic awareness
If you have suffered as a result of anaesthetic awareness, you may be able to claim compensation for your suffering.
- Information about anaesthetic awareness
- How much can I claim?
- What can I claim compensation for?
- Making a claim for compensation
Anaesthetic awareness is the sensation experienced when someone is aware of what is happening during an operation, and may even be able to feel pain, even though they have been given a general anaesthetic.
Anaesthetic awareness or "unintended intra-operative awareness" is the spontaneous recall of events by a 
patient during general anaesthesia. This means that the patient is unable to move or speak, but is awake or conscious to some degree, hearing and feeling the entire procedure. Anaesthetic awareness is not uncommon. The highest incidence occurs during Caesarean section, especially when carried out as an emergency operation, and also in Obstertrics surgery.
The most traumatic case of anesthesia awareness is full consciousness during surgery with pain and explicit recall of intra-operative events. In less severe cases, patients may have only poor recollection of conversations, events, pain, and pressure or of difficulty in breathing.
The experiences of patients with anesthesia awareness vary widely, and patient responses vary widely as well. The experience may be extremely traumatic for the patient, and will often lead to long term psychological problems.
Some patients experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), leading to long lasting after effects such as nightmares, night terrors, flashbacks, insomnia and in some cases even suicide.
Causes
The majority of cases are due to faulty technique on the part of anaesthetists, with a minority being related to equipment failures or failure to check equipment, Prompt inspection of the anesthesia equipment and record is important and may help prevent future occurrences
If you have suffered as a result of experiencing anaesthetic awareness, or any other problem related to anaesthesia you may be able to make a claim for compensation. An experienced medical negligence solicitor can advise you on making a claim for compensation.
How much can I claim?
A number of factors will determine the value of your settlement:
- The type of injury and how severe the injury is
- Did you recover fully from the injury or do you have ongoing problems
- What are the long term effects on your health
- Did the injury cause you other losses such as loss of earnings
What can I claim compensation for?
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of earnings
- The loss of comfort/convenience/quality of life caused by your injury
- Medical care costs
- Costs involved in adapting your home to meet your new requirements as a result of your injury
- Other out of pocket expenses incurred whilst receiving medical treatment, such as travel expenses
Making a claim for compensation
A specialist medical negligence solicitor can assess your case and inform you about:
- How strong your case is
- The likelyhood of making a successful claim
- The amount of compensation you may receive if your claim is successful
- Pursue a claim on your behalf