Anesthesia-Related Considerations in Malpractice Litigation

The surgeon must work closely with the anesthesiologist to prevent malpractice litigation and, more importantly, to ensure the best patient outcome. As the otolaryngologist and the anesthesiologist concurrently take care of patients, it is important to consider malpractice liability of both specialties. Overlapping areas of litigation include airway injury, complications related to obstructive sleep apnea, and respiratory complications. Teams can work together on pre-operative optimization and risk screening, management of the difficult airway, postoperative monitoring, and safe analgesic and opioid prescribing practices.