Cook & Tolley LLP

No. Awareness can occur for different reasons, and a legal claim generally requires proof of duty, a breach of the standard of care, causation, and damages. A review typically focuses on the anesthesia plan, monitoring, medication administration, and how the team responded to signs the patient might not be adequately anesthetized.

Often important records include the pre-anesthesia assessment, intraoperative anesthesia record (including vitals trends), medication administration record, airway notes, operative report, nursing notes, and PACU/recovery documentation. Follow-up records can also matter because they document the nature and extent of harm.

Yes. Depending on the facts, the care at issue may involve anesthesia clinicians, surgeons, nurses, and the facility’s policies or staffing. A proper evaluation looks at each role and decision point rather than assuming fault rests with a single person.

The evaluation typically compares what happened to what a reasonably careful provider would have done under similar circumstances. That includes whether risks were assessed, whether monitoring and responses were appropriate, and whether a preventable lapse can be linked to the injury (causation), not just to a bad outcome.

Those statements may or may not match what the records show. A careful review usually focuses on objective documentation—timelines, vitals, medications, and clinical decision-making—along with expert analysis of the applicable standard of care.