Anesthesiologist Numbed My Lungs

[Jacquie718]

What is the name of your state? New York

On Feb 12, 2005 I was in labor and decided I wanted to get an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and tried to administer the epidural. He was having a hard time getting between my vertebre (he left 15 needle marks, which I took a picture of) and decided to give me a spinal instead (he didn't inform me of this). He ended up not only numbing my entire body, but also my lungs. There is absolutely nothing scarier than not feeling your body and unable to breathe. They let my fiance back into the room and i mouthed to him that I couldn't breathe. He told the docs and they shoved a big tube down my throat and rushed me into the OR. Then I passed out and my child was delivered via forceps with about 4 docs and a dozen nurses while I was unconscious.

I told my obgyn doc that i thought I was going to die and she said she thought so too at first. She said she has never seen that happen before. A lot of nurses came to see me while i was recovering, they all said i gave them a big scare.

I was wondering if i have a case. Thank you!

Jacquelyn

[rmet4nzkx]

I thought this sounded familiar
[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=224152[/url]

Originally Posted by Jacquie718

02-18-2005
Jacquie718
What is the name of your state? NY

I went to the hospital around 3 or 4pm on Feb 12. i was 4cm dilated, at 6pm i got into a labor,delivery, recovery room (i was in a holding room cuz the place was packed) they checked me and i was 6cm, they tried to break my water but couldnt tell if it was already broken or not. it caused me to bleed profusely which freaked me out so i started shaking like a madman and my contractions got a lot more painful.

They ask if i want an epidural, i say YES!!!! So the guy comes in and hes having a hard time gettng between my vertebre (sp) so he keeps poking me with needles finally i feel a shock go thru one leg (the nurse told me id feel that when it worked or something) then i felt a shock in the other leg. Nurse asked meif i wanted to see if it worked or let him try again. I said let me see if it worked.

It worked all right! I felt my whole body go numb, then they let my fiance back in the room and i look at him and tell him i cant breathe. I started gasping for air but wasnt getting any. fiance kept telling me he loved me and i finally got the energy to mouth to him i love him too cuz i wasnt expecting to see him again. The spinal (i didnt kno i had a spinal until later) had gone right to my lungs. so they put an oxygen mask on me, about 10 people surrounded my bed and ran me into the OR. I still couldnt breathe, they shoved this fat tube down my throat and i couldnt keep my eyes open any longer so i closed them and i honestly thought i was going to die.

So now im no longer conscious and 40 min later i hear a cry and i know that is my baby girl, she was born at 7:57pm (4hrs after i got there). I open my eyes and there she is, so beautiful and perfect. They had delivered her thru forceps (luckily i had dilated to 10cm within an hour of them checkingme) and i had no idea they were delivering her. I was still numb so i couldnt hold her. O i had been delivered like that cuz baby was in distress and they couldnt do a csection c of my blood pressure

I told the doc i thought i was going to die and she said she thought so to. Every nurse and doc in maternity was in the room helping to deliver me, my fiance said 4 docs and a dozen nurses. The doc said no one in that hospital has ever reacted to the epidural like that. Because of the forceps i hav an extremely bad episodimy (the cut right up to a bone and the doc said the bone may have chipped), i cant sit or walk (im laying down on my side holding my daughter), hurts to stand up. Im only comfy on my stomach. My tailbone is also messed up and there is some swelling around that and 3inchs worth of needle marks in my back from epidural also.

Sorry i have a lot of typos, im holding my daughter.
I was wondering if i have a valid lawsuit and if signing a consent form would affect suing.

Thank you,
Jacquie

How are you doing now?
How is the baby?

[Jacquie718]

baby is absolute perfect.

The first week I was home was hell, I couldn't take care of my baby properly, everyone else had to. My tailbone is messed up from delivery, doc said it'll take a total of 3 months to heal, he says its because my tailbone is curved, but im not sure if maybe the forceps had something to do with it. I had a really bad episodomy i guess to get the forceps in, doc said that may have chipped a bone but that bone and my stitches are now healed. The needle marks went away and that isnt sore anymore. Im just waiting for my tailbone to heal.

[rmet4nzkx]

I'm glad to hear that mother and child are fine. Some people have a problem with their tailbone during childbirth with or without forcepts. The first week can be bad and good to have help around the house with a new baby. While traumatic, your reaction was rare and apparently handled appropriately. Did you have any childbirth education before? Did you learn any breathing or relaxiation techniques? There are a number of ways to handle a delivery and the same may not apply across the board, but the outcome is what is the basis of a lawsuit, not the means to get there. You have no damages. So since you have healed and both healthy, the fact that your tailbone is still sore will take more time to heal, I know from experience, is not grounds for a lawsuit. Keep that doughnut handy and ice when you need it and enjoy your baby. If this is your first child you may want to think about these issues and consult your OB/GYN prior to conception.

[Jacquie718]

I did take lamaze. The tailbone isn't what Im worried about. This guy messed up, I believe the doc said he put the needle too high up in my back. He almost killed me and what if he messes up like this again and someone doesn't get the chance to say they can't breathe? I asked my doc if I would react like this (not breathing) again and she said no because it wasn't my body's fault.

[rmet4nzkx]

Here is an article re risks of Epidurals.

[url]http://www.healing-arts.org/mehl-madrona/mmepidural.htm[/url]
....
13. Accidental spinal anesthesia:

When an epidural accidentally turns into a spinal anesthetic, many complications can occur:

1. Postspinal headaches.
2. Dysfunction of the bladder is frequent
3. Occasionally numbness and tingling (paresthesias) of the lower limbs and abdomen develop, and sometimes there is a temporary loss or diminution of sensation in these areas. (This may affect your diaphragm and in turn your ability to breathe.
4. Unilateral footdrop (paralysis of the muscle that lifts the foot) has occurred.
5. Permanent nerve damage (conditions called chronic, progressive adhesive arachnoiditis or transverse myelitis) can occur. These lead to paralysis of the lower parts of the body.
6. Deaths have been reported.
7. Difficult breathing
8. Increased incidence of forceps deliveries.

The reliability of spinal anesthesia with 5% hyperbaric lignocaine was studied among 30 patients undergoing elective Cesarean. Twelve patients had hypotension and four developed severe postspinal headaches. The block progressed to the C2 dermatome in four patients and was associated with dysphagia. This was totally unpredicted and was thought due to altered cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in late pregnancy.35
-----
One reason to give an epidural is that if need be, it can become a spinal, by raising the level of anesthetic, something that your Lamaze instructor should have discussed with you as this is done with anticipated and/or emergency C Sections. Sometimes for what ever reasons, perhaps you gained a lot of weight or had difficulty getting into that impossible position and then relaxing while they poke at you, so, as it was with you, it is sometimes difficult to place epidural, thus you had a spinal. Most likely what happened was not that he numbed your lungs, but rather a combination of altered cerebrospinal fluid dynamics sometimes found late in pregnancy, which could have affected your diaphragm which as the article notes is unpredictable and may be futher complicated if you were already HO which can in and of it's self cause various types of syncope on form includes the cescation of breathing. If you couldn't breathe, you would have passed out and they would have intubated you with far less trauma than you experienced.

While unfortunate and unpredictable, it is a complication of the procedure and unless you doctor is saying that you have reason to sue and they are willing to testify it is unlikely you have reason to sue. I hope having more information and the fact that you are both healthy will ease your mind.

If you have low bp (HO) please post back and I can point you in the direction of recources for this misunderstood problem.

By all means if you still feel you want to sue, consult a med-mal attorney.