Hospitak Airway Adapters
A Hospitak airway adapter is utilized when administering anesthesia or other respiratory applications. Airway adapters are utilized for a variety of respiratory applications, such as to extended a circuit for breathing or to attach reservoir bags. The airway adapters have been sent to supply distributors and hospitals all over the nation to help patients who have a problem with breathing. An airway adapter is primarily provided to hospitals and other medical institutions, but some Hospitrak airway adapters were distributed for home use.
Air adapters are used for respiratory applications. They may be used when administering anesthesia to extend a breathing circuit. A breathing circuit of a anesthetic machine is the path which the anesthetic agent and oxygen are delivered to the patient and the path by which carbon dioxide is removed. There are two basic breathing circuits. In one, an open circuit, the patient has access to environmental air as well as the mixture of anesthetic agent and oxygen. In a closed system, the patient rebreathes gases; in such a system carbon dioxide is absorbed by sodalime. There is a rebreathing bag that is attached to the circuit. Airway adapters may be used to extend the breathing circuit, or to attach the reservoir or rebreathing bag.
In 2004, Unomedical, Inc. issued a public safety alert regarding defects found in a number of their Hospitak brand airway adapters lots. Safety concerns about a number of Hospitak airway adapters were made public; the airway adapters could be blocked, leading to a possible prevention of a patient's inhalation or exhalation. This can be extremely problematic; this kind of defect could cause serious injury or fatalities. The affected Hospitak airway adapters may have been labeled and sold under the Viasys, Unomedical, or Drager brand names.
When you go into a hospital for some sort of surgical procedure, you may spend time worrying about what might happen. You may think of complications related to the type of surgery you have. What you might not spend a great deal of time thinking about is what might happen if something goes wrong with the anesthesia process and you cannot breathe. You typically trust that the equipment and medical devices hospitals use will function as they are meant to, and they will not cause problems. Unfortunately, it is not always the case that everything goes according to planned. There are times when medical devices do not work properly or fail. Such events can be devastating to patients and their families.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a defective Hospitak airway adapter, or your loved one died as the result of a defective airway adapter, it is highly recommended that you seek the assistance of a lawyer. A product liability or defective medical device lawyer will guide you through the legal processes that are involved.
An attorney who specializes in laws surrounding defective medical devices will have an understanding of what steps are necessary to file a claim of wrongful injury or death. They will review your medical records, information regarding your experiences, as well as product recalls to assess whether or not your situation was the result of a product defect. From there it will be determined whether or not it would be in your best interest to pursue legal action. In the event that you can proceed, a lawyer specializing in defective medical device law will help you pursue compensation and justice.
If a defective Hospitak airway adapter has caused you or a loved one serious injury, or resulted in a fatality, it is important that you seek legal assistance.
