Anaesthetic Negligence claims.

Anaesthetic negligence claims arise from errors before, during or after the administration of anaesthesia — a specialty where mistakes can cause catastrophic injury within minutes.

Airway management is the core risk. A failure to intubate (place the breathing tube) or to recognise a misplaced tube deprives the patient of oxygen and can cause brain damage or death; established protocols exist precisely because the window is so short. Related failings include inadequate protection against reflux and aspiration — stomach contents entering the lungs — which causes serious infection and lung injury, particularly where rapid-sequence protocols for emergency or non-fasted patients were not followed.

A different category is accidental awareness under general anaesthesia: the patient becomes aware, and may feel pain, during the operation while unable to move or communicate. The national audit NAP5 found the risk is highest in obstetrics — around 1 in 670 caesarean sections under general anaesthetic, against roughly 1 in 19,000 anaesthetics overall — and judged around three-quarters of cases preventable with proper monitoring and dosing. A related but distinct failing is pain during a caesarean under an epidural or spinal that was not adequately topped up, or not converted to a general anaesthetic when it failed — one of the most common obstetric anaesthesia claims in its own right. Both can cause lasting psychological trauma, including PTSD.

Compensation ranges from £15,000–£100,000 for aspiration injuries and awareness cases with psychiatric harm, to seven figures where hypoxic brain injury leaves the patient with lifelong care needs. Fatal cases are brought under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976. The limitation period is generally 3 years from the harm or date of knowledge.