West Palm Beach Post-Operative Respiratory Failure Attorney

Turn to Anthony Quackenbush, a West Palm Beach Post-Operative Respiratory Failure Lawyer, if you’ve experienced breathing problems after a surgery procedure. Post-Operative Respiratory Failure is characterized by severe breathing problems after an operation. This can include any type of operation. If the breathing problems are caused by a doctor (or are not caught by a doctor early enough to treat effectively), then you may be able to pursue a medical malpractice case against the doctor.

Post-operative respiratory failure may also result from:

• Aspiration
• adult respiratory distress syndrome
• pulmonary embolism.

Although any type of surgery can lead to post-surgical respiratory failure, certain types of procedures are more risky than others. These include:

• Neck surgeries
• Surgeries involving the head
• Thoracic surgeries
• Coronary artery bypass surgery

At its worse, respiratory failure can lead to tragic death. If this occurred to your loved one, then you may be able to pursue a wrongful death case on your loved one’s behalf. In this case, an estate will typically have to be setup on your loved one’s behalf. Usually, a family member or relative will then be named as the “PR” (personal representative of the estate). The PR will carry the case forward on your loved one’s behalf.

When the case either settles or goes to trial (and a verdict/judgment is obtained), money from the case will go to your loved one’s survivors. These people are referred to as the “beneficiaries of the estate.”

There are strict rules on who can receive proceeds from a wrongful death case. These include parents, children and certain siblings. However, it is best to contact Mr. Quackenbush to determine the wrongful death rules that will apply.

Contact Mr. Quackenbush if you or a loved one has experienced post-procedure respiratory failure after a surgical procedure anywhere in Florida (including Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Miami Dade County). This West Palm Beach Post-Operative Respiratory Failure Law Firm can help you in your darkest hour. Call Mr. Quackenbush today at 954-448-7288 for a free consultation.

Doctors called anesthesiologists typically help surgeons during procedures to control a patient’s sensation of pain. After all, if a patient were fully sensing pain, it would be impossible for the surgeon to do the procedure.

Anesthesiologists use drugs (called anesthesia) to control their patient’s pain. There are many different drugs that can be used. Nevertheless, certain patients are allergic to certain types of anesthesia drugs.

It is the anesthesiologist’s job to know which anesthesia drugs a patient is allergic to. The anesthesiologist must then avoid the use of these drugs. If the anesthesiologist uses these drugs anyway and disaster results, then the anesthesiologist will be responsible.

An anesthesiologist should know which anesthesia drugs his or her patient is allergic by either 1) talking to the patient, 2) looking through the patient’s medical records or 3) reviewing the intake forms.

Lung disease (such as COPD or asthma) can also make a patient high-risk for post-operative respiratory distress. Again, it is the surgeon’s responsibility to know which of his patients has lung disease. If the doctor doesn’t know this, performs a surgery on a patient with lung disease, and disaster results – then the doctor will be liable.

The same applies in the case that the doctor is aware that his or her patient has lung disease and performs the procedure anyway.

Obese patients are also high-risk for post-surgical respiratory distress. If a doctor plans on performing a surgery on an overweight patient, then he or she must take certain precautions to prevent against respiratory distress. If the doctor doesn’t do this and disaster results, then the doctor will be liable.

Finally, smoking is a risk-factor for post-surgical respiratory failure. As such, if a doctor plans on operating on a smoker, the doctor must take certain precautions to prevent against respiratory failure. Again, if the doctor doesn’t do this, then he or she can be liable.

All of the following can result from post-surgical respiratory failure:

• low blood-oxygen levels
• shortness of breath
• disorientation
• confusion
• increased heart-rate
• decreased heart rate
• bluish colored skin
• loss of consciousness
• coma

Pulmonary embolisms can also cause all of the symptoms above. As such, if a patient has any of the symptoms above, it is important for the doctor to make the right diagnosis – in order that the correct treatment is given.

Because respiratory failure frequently results after surgical procedures, it is important that doctors properly monitor their patients after operating. This can be done in one of two ways. For one, the doctor can keep the patient in the hospital for a while after the surgery. On the other hand, the doctor can order follow-up appointments for the patient.

If the patient is discharged from the hospital too quickly and respiratory distress results, then the doctor who wrote the discharge order and the hospital may both be liable. On the other hand, if the doctor never ordered follow-up appointments, then again the doctor may be liable.

Patients are frequently discharged from hospitals for financial reasons (i.e, the hospital wants to get in the next patient who can pay). Similarly, doctors frequently fail to set follow up appointments for their patients because of their busy (and lucrative) surgical schedules. If Mr. Quackenbush can show that the failure to monitor you after your surgery was due to financial factors, then he will utilize that fact in your case to maximize the compensation you receive.

Mr. Quackenbush can be called anytime for a free consultation. Reach out to him at 954-448-7288 if you’ve experienced post-operative respiratory failure anywhere in Palm Beach County (including Belle Glade, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Lantana, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach and Wellington).