http://www.burtonreport.com/InfForensic/MedMalSpineAnesDilemma.htm
" The worst medical-legal dilemma for any physician is to be held responsible for producing devastating impairment and disability in a patient after performing an apparently standard and uneventful procedure.
" This situation is not uncommon in the field of anesthesiology. Most anesthesiologists continue to be unaware of the circumstances under which this occurs. None of the material which follows is taught in Anesthesiology training programs (but needs to be). Burton Report presents two basic areas of concern which have become evident, not through, continuing education, but through medical malpractice suits.
1. Severe sudden neurologic impairment following standard epidural anesthesia.
2. Progressive patient impairment following attempted blind needle technique injection of epidural steroid."
First Case Scenario
Second Case Scenario
* Anesthesiologists actively seek activities that place them in direct patient care.
* The field of "Pain Management" is thus attractive to anesthesiologists.
* Procedurist reimbursement is relatively high.
* Pain management centers are now often "procedure mills".
* Anesthesiologists routinely perform epidural and spinal anesthesia with basically "safe" drugs.
* Many anesthesiologists mistakenly believe that the "blind" needle approach to the epidural space is accurate.
* Anesthesiologists are not trained in the utilization of x-ray monitoring equipment and tend not to use it.
* Many Anesthesiologists know little about the potential toxicity of steroid suspensions containing glycols in the subarachnoid space.
* Most Anesthesiologists have never heard of "adhesive arachnoiditis".
* It is rare for a Anesthesiologist to ever see a patient after a procedure is performed.
* Anesthesiologist are frequently guilty of the "The New Guinea Syndrome".