Anesthesia Given Without Consent And Against Patient's Will

Here is my dilemma…I had right knee surgery to fix a meniscus. This was my first surgery ever and I had a bad reaction to the “general” anesthesia given to me. I told my doctor this and he scheduled the next surgery (for my left knee) at a different out-patience surgical center, where they perform “local” anesthesia.

The anesthesiologist came over to me and explained that I would be given a numbing shot for my left knee, which will numb the entire leg. He also told me that he would give me some type of drug to loosen me up. I told the doctor that I did not want any such drug administered to me, because I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia last time. The doctor acted really arrogant, like I didn’t know what I was talking about and he said we would talk about this later.

When I was laying in bed, waiting for the numbing shot for my left knee, I started feeling woozy and at that moment I heard the anesthesiologist say that he just gave me something in my IV and that was the last thing I remembered, until post-op. I was told that it took me twice as long than any patient to wake up and that my condition only happens 5% of the time. I threw up my medicines and liquid and was dizzy, nausea, light-headed for a week thereafter. In addition, I was told that the anesthesiologist came me some type of forgetful drug to make me forget the whole incident.

I told the anesthesiologist specifically and clearly that I did not want any type of drug that would loosen me up or knock me out, etc. and he administered this to me without my permission and against my will. I talked to a lawyer and because I didn’t suffer a whole lot of damage, it wouldn’t be worth it to have a lawyer oversee the case. He recommend taking the doctor to small claims?

How should I respond with my claim? Do I have grounds to sue? Do I have a case in court? Should I take the medical facility to court as well? Please help.

For starters, you need to go to where you had surgery and get a copy of your records to see what it was that you got. To help you understand, there are different classifications of anesthesia. A "general" is when you have major surgery and you are intubated (tube in the lung). This is what you said you didnt want. Then there's a type called MAC where your out (meds via IV) but you are not intubated. You don't remember a thing. Both of these require the services of an anesthesiologist. Then there is a local, which requires the use of a nurse and the surgeon (not anesthesiologist). Are you sure that the person you spoke with was infact an anesthesiologist? If you were going there for a "local" the use of their services may not be needed. Usually demerol /fentanyl along with versed. I would be willing to bet that the drug to "help you relax" is versed. It's like valium but stronger and has amnesic properties espically when used with the demerol or fentanyl. Both of these drugs are used all the time. These drugs are used commonly for procedures like cardiac caths, colonoscopies and angioplasty, and arthroscopy. They are very safe. These drugs dont put everyone out...there are always "outlyers" who it doesn't affect at all and those that it affects too much. 5% of each.
Do you have a case you can win? Doubt it. Somewhere along the line you signed a paper saying they can do it or you would not have had the surgery. You will find them in the copies of the records you get. You have a better chance of filing a complaint against the MD with the state medical board. The bottom line is that your surgeon does the ordering here. If he orders the surgery a certain way, then that the service the anesthesiologist provides. I personally file a complaint against both of them.
It would also be in your best interest to get copies of both of your surgeries to see if there is a common drug that was used in both surgeries to avoid using it again. These are not allergies, they are undesired effects.
Stay away from these outpatient facilites in the future. Your reactions could be worse the more your exposed to it. Many of these facilities are not equiped to handle that 5% They maybe able to stablize you, but I personally would not risk it.

Thank you for your kind response. I know 100% for sure that I had spoken to the anesthesiologist, because he told me that he was one. Yes, you are right about the signed paperwork, which the nurse had placed in front of me to sign, while I was waiting for surgery. I couldn't read it, because she had pulled back another piece of paper that was on top of it and she just told me to initial in the required spots; however, on that very form, at the top, there is an empty line where a person's name would be inserted of the person who went over the form with me and explained all the drugs and anesthesia. Guess what...it was never explained to me and no name exists on the form. I think in court, the whole form could be thrown out because of this...don't you think?

At any rate, I feel very pissed off...like I have been raped in my mind. You are very right about this facility not being able to handle it, because the entire staff seemed unprofessional. The surgical center was in a business office...how weird is that?

Dear Caring4U
I am an anesthesiologist and reading your post greatly offended me. Your attitude that you can order up the type of anesthesia like you are at McDonalds is one of my most hated areas of my job. The idea that you tell the anesthesiologist the type of anesthesia you want is akin to telling the surgeon I want only a partial meniscectomy, no chondroplasty and leave my synovium intact. You need years of expertise to understand the nuances of each surgery and the anesthesia for each. For you to get this surgery completely awake you would have needed a spinal or a combination block femoral and sciatic block, with this you would have had no pain but you would have felt movement and things happening in your knee. With the spinal you would have had a 5 min period where 30 % of people vomit and then you would have waited in the RR 90+min for your leg and bladder function to return. With the nerve block you would have had two injections mild - mod pain with injection -- taking 5-15min to perform each block and then you would have had a 'dead' leg for 6-18hrs. Also you would have gotten near toxic levels of local anesthetic to combine both blocks. So don't feel so hurt nobody intentionally tried to harm you it was in your best interest and next time there can be less nauseating anesthetics. Understand that you are not an expert and that dictating care like you are doing is putting you at risk for complications.

This why I don't go to doctors and rely on an herbalist and homopathic treatments. Western medicine is just a rip off.

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Quoting deepsleep1975

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Dear Caring4U
Your attitude that you can order up the type of anesthesia like you are at McDonalds is one of my most hated areas of my job.

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Unfortunately true in all medical specialties these days. :(

Don't know why you guys spent so much time and $$ going to school/residency all those years when everything you need to know is on the internet. ;)


Edit to add: OR you could have been an "herbalist", charged what you wanted, and collected CASH instead of being forced to deal with insurance "reasonable and customary" payments.

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Quoting BlueCrystal

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This why I don't go to doctors and rely on an herbalist and homopathic treatments. Western medicine is just a rip off.

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I knew somebody who held that view, until her ovarian cyst was the size of a basketball and she ended up in the ER.

deepsleep, 100 % agree.... You can not tell the pilot how to fly the plane. Just get me there safely. I can not tell you how many patients want to be awake , no sedative etc. They get in the OR, have a panick attack, the surgeon freaks out, and your care just went down the drain. Believe me, there has been more suits for patients that "remembered everything " than those claiming a suit because you can't remember anything. Come on, think about it.. By the way, I have never met any patient that can tolerate a knee surgery awake and under local, the nurses and surgeons will refuse to do it now days ..

From the other side of the table....

Let's pretend, for just a second, that the doctors and nurses performing surgery on my person are working for me. You know... where I pay for a service and expertise and, crazy I know, think I have something to say about a procedure that I am not only paying a tremendous amount of money for but also a procedure that is HAPPENING TO MY PERSON.

To you, I am just another piece of meat to get through before your dinner with the Chief of Surgery. Me, this is a situation where a screw up costs considerable more than an enhanced insurance payment.

Why don't we start with the same level of customer service that you demand from the highly trained mechanic that is fixing your Beemer and work backward?

So, let's drop the tin-god attitude and pretend that I have more than a working brain cell and a paid up insurance plan and make me a part of the process rather than just another idiot that doesn't know enough to actually contribute to his/her own care.

Throw all the terms around that you want... yes, your education in this area is vastly superior to my own. That doesn't mean that you are a good doctor... and it certainly doesn't give you the right to discount my opinion as to my care.

With this reasoning, there is really no justifiable reason for the person, you, to ask the surgeon, defendant in your world, to perform the procedure. Your reasoning dictates that you, the patient, know more about knee surgery than the surgeon, defendant. You, the patient , know more about anesthesia than the anesthesiologist, defendant. Therefore, under deductive reasoning , it would be safer for you, the patient , to fix your own knee without anesthesia , as clearly stated. Great, you can do this in the garage on the weekend and invite your friends for cocktails afterwards!!!!!!

Let's pretend, for just a second, that the doctors and nurses performing surgery on my person are working for me. You know... where I pay for a service and expertise and, crazy I know, think I have something to say about a procedure that I am not only paying a tremendous amount of money for but also a procedure that is HAPPENING TO MY PERSON.

To you, I am just another piece of meat to get through before your dinner with the Chief of Surgery. Me, this is a situation where a screw up costs considerable more than an enhanced insurance payment.

Why don't we start with the same level of customer service that you demand from the highly trained mechanic that is fixing your Beemer and work backward?

So, let's drop the tin-god attitude and pretend that I have more than a working brain cell and a paid up insurance plan and make me a part of the process rather than just another idiot that doesn't know enough to actually contribute to his/her own care.

Throw all the terms around that you want... yes, your education in this area is vastly superior to my own. That doesn't mean that you are a good doctor... and it certainly doesn't give you the right to discount my opinion as to my care.[/QUOTE]