rchart1010 t1_iuuwbr9 wrote
Reply to comment by emrythelion in Jury awards $21m to family of patient after simple leg surgery left him in a vegetative state by TheFullerTron
Are you an anesthesiologist?
Prior to my most recent surgery my anesthesiologist said that nearly all anesthesia complications/deaths are in unplanned anesthesia situations such as when someone has an accident and needs immediate/emergency surgery.
Is there a specific reason you have that leads you to a different conclusion?
emrythelion t1_iuzurx5 wrote
Nearly all. That’s the caveat.
Not every anesthesiologist will see a death due to anesthesia, but most will. Based on current numbers at least (and even a decade ago it was much worse.). Most deaths they face will be due to people with extreme risk factors or unplanned situations, but that doesn’t change the fact that most anesthesiologists will face at least one death they absolutely didn’t expect.
I’d also bring up that unplanned anesthesia really doesn’t matter; because the people that die unexpectedly in those situations are those with no risk factors at all. You never expect a young person, in good shape, with no known health issues to suddenly go into cardiac arrest, because it turns out they have a faulty valve in their heart. It doesn’t really matter whether it was a planned surgery or not. The majority of people who die in unplanned anesthesia situations have known or very obvious risk factors.
It is improving. Better imaging makes a HUGE difference. Issues that wouldn’t have even been caught 10 years ago, let alone longer, are being seen far in advance and can be planned around.
I’m not an anesthesiologist. But I’ve been put under almost 20 times, the majority of which have been in the last 10 years. I’m 29, just to clarify. I also carpooled with a child of an anesthesiologist the majority of highschool. I‘ve had this discussion with every single anesthesiologist besides the first, since it was my tonsils when I was 2 years old.
I’m not a doctor, but what I’m saying is what every single experienced anesthesiologists have told me. Every time before I’ve been put under. It’s always a risk. And I was probably in a better position, because i was generally healthy and had “good“ experiences with anesthesia.
rchart1010 t1_iv0pumz wrote
Okay, so, it sounds like you're basing your statement on the fact that you've been told there is a risk of death and maybe some CYA statements from your anesthesiologists. Oh, and carpooling with the child of an anesthesiologist? Which seems like a pretty big reach.
However, even 20 years ago it appears there were only 315 anesthesia related deaths a year in the US so I'm not sure how that led you to a conclusion that most anesthesiologists experiencing an unplanned anesthesia death.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697561/
>First, our results indicate that the numbers of anesthesia-related deaths in the United States averaged about 315 deaths per year from 1999 to 2005.
Also, unless you have another data source I'm not sure how you'd know that emergency situations aren't the setting in which most complications occur, serine as how there is no time to get a history, perhaps limited access to different drugs and a person who may have wildly fluctuating vital signs due to being in distress.
You've been talking like an authority and I just don't think you are one, even if you carpooled with someone whose parent was an anestheologist and have been under anesthesia multiple times.
Anymore than I'm an authority in the field of endocrinology because I've seen an endocrinologist hundreds of times or an expert in eye injections even though my doctor tells me there is a risk of blindness or complication. Or an expert in gastroenterology even though I went out on a date with a gastroenterologist.
Unless of course there is an outside data source that backs your claims that most doctors have experienced x, y or z and the causes, I don't think your experience or even your conversations make you any better situated to speak authoritively in this area.
ETA: there is some evidence to suggest increased anesthesia risk in emergency situations which is also counter to your post.
>Difficult intubation is far more likely to occur in suboptimal environments outside of the OR such as in the emergency department, the intensive care unit (ICU), patient wards and even outside of the hospital.
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