Page 42 - Part 1 Anesthesiology Common Risk Issues

SVMIC Anesthesiology: Common Risk Issues

CRNAs and the physicians who supervise them. Until very

recently, physicians were always sued in cases where CRNA
negligence was alleged. In fact, in some cases, the CRNA was

not named – only the physician who had direct or apparent
supervision. These supervising physicians could be either the

anesthesiologist or, if one was not available, the surgeon as he
or she was the only “doctor in the room”. The theories of liability

asserted against the physician (anesthesiologist or surgeon)
include: negligent supervision, “Captain-of-the-Ship”, contract

law, agency, vicarious liability, and respondeat superior.

Over the last decade, however, with the modernization of
nursing statutes, the broadening scope of CRNA responsibilities,

and prevalence of CRNAs in the marketplace, the law has
begun to recognize that CRNAs can be individually liable. As

you might imagine, with greater responsibility comes increased
risk of liability. All of this is not to say that the anesthesiologist

or surgeon will no longer be sued under some of the theories
listed previously, but it does show a shift in the way CRNAs are

viewed by the law, the courts, and the plaintiff attorneys.

Legal treatises have recently been revised to acknowledge the

CRNA’s role in modern anesthesia. American Jurisprudence
Proof of Facts, a legal compendium that is used by lawyers

and judges to research legal issues and find caselaw, states in
a recent edition in an article relating to anesthesia and CRNA

liability:

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