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Oxygen Deprivation Injuries Attorneys in Detroit, Michigan
The human body is an amazing machine, capable of enduring long periods without water and nourishment to sustain it. However, it demands one element constantly to keep it from damage or death: oxygen. Without it, serious injury or death can occur within seconds or minutes.
Humans can suffer oxygen deprivation as a result of multiple underlying diseases. It can occur in a healthcare setting without warning and through no one’s fault. However, it can also occur when a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional is negligent or commits malpractice.
If you have suffered injuries due to oxygen deprivation, or if a loved one has been injured, incapacitated, or died as a result of oxygen deprivation in a healthcare setting, and you believe it may have been avoidable, Ratton Law Group PC may be able to help.
We are a personal injury law group, dedicated to helping individuals and families throughout Detroit, Michigan. We were nurses before earning law degrees, which gives us unique insights into medical malpractice and negligence. We are here to help you.
What Is Oxygen Deprivation?
The human body takes oxygen into the lungs where it is carried by the blood vessels to tissues throughout the body, leaving oxygen in those tissues and carrying carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled from the body. The flow of air and blood is crucial to this process, and if either is compromised, the health and life of body tissues are at risk due to what is called “hypoxia.”
There are four types of oxygen deprivation:
Hypoxemic hypoxia is the most common type of oxygen deprivation, occurring when there is insufficient oxygen in the blood.
Circulatory hypoxia occurs when the body has enough oxygen, but blocked blood vessels keep it from being carried to the tissues.
Anemic hypoxia occurs when there aren’t enough red blood cells, or they are too deformed, to carry adequate amounts of oxygen throughout the body.
Histotoxic hypoxia occurs when a toxin, such as cyanide, inhibits the tissue’s ability to use the oxygen and red blood cells from performing their roles.
What Causes Oxygen Deprivation?
There are many potential causes of oxygen deprivation, including health conditions and diseases that affect breathing and blood flow. Some common causes include pulmonary embolism, congestive heart failure, asthma, anemia, pneumonia, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and sleep apnea.
Other causes are preventable, such as errors in intubation and the administration of anesthesia, failure of medical staff to monitor signs, or even ignoring signs of oxygen deprivation during emergency, surgical, or routine medical care, or during pregnancy and childbirth.
What Are the Possible Consequences of Oxygen Deprivation?
The organs of the body are made of tissues. They rely on that healthy interaction of oxygen and blood flow. Oxygen deprivation can cause irreparable damage to them.
Oxygen deprivation in childbirth can result in lifelong complications, including heart damage, lung damage, and brain damage that causes seizures and developmental issues. It can also cause cerebral palsy. Ultimately, oxygen deprivation can cause death.
How Do You Prove Oxygen Deprivation Was Caused by Negligence?
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals owe a duty of care to the patients they treat. If they fail in that duty of care, either by negligence or malpractice, they can be held financially liable for the damages the patient suffers as a result.
Proof in negligence cases requires meeting four standards:
The healthcare provider owed you, your baby, or your loved one a duty of care.
The healthcare provider breached that duty of care.
The breach of duty caused injuries and economic and non-economic damages.
Those damages were directly attributable to the healthcare providers’ actions or inaction.
Proving negligence or malpractice in oxygen deprivation cases can be extremely challenging. Your medical malpractice attorneys must work with medical experts to determine if, indeed, the healthcare provider failed to provide the care required.
Who Can Be Liable in an Oxygen Deprivation Claim?
The doctor is not the only party that can be held liable in an oxygen deprivation claim. Nurses, technicians, and other healthcare staff, as well as their employers, including physician practices, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities, may be liable as well.
Oxygen Deprivation Attorneys Serving
Detroit, Michigan
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury from a doctor’s negligence, you should consult with the personal injury attorneys at Ratton Law Group PC in Detroit, Michigan. With oxygen deprivation injuries, you are looking at a lifetime of medical care and treatment, special needs, and extraordinary expenses. If your injuries and losses were preventable, we can help you recover compensation.