What would you do if you were awake during surgery? What if you were on the table completely paralyzed, but you could hear and feel everything? Every year 30,000 people suffer through this horrifying experience. Carol Weihrer, the founder of the Anesthesia Awareness Campaign, was paralyzed but awake when doctors removed her right eye. This is an especially scary story for me because I had surgery on my eyes when I was five years old. What if this had happened to me?
There is a new movie coming out starring Hayden Christensen, who plays a patient that is awake during his surgery. Weihrer thinks that doctors should be forced to watch the movie because she wants them to face the fact that it is happening, and hopes that the movie will increase public awareness and encourage doctors to start using a machine that watches brain activity during surgery. The reason that doctors have been reluctant to use this machine is because it is so expensive being anywhere between $5000 and $9000. I think that it is wrong when there is technology that exists to prevent these tragic experiences and it is not being used because of the cost. However, in the year 2000, the monitor was used in just 700 hospitals, and now it is used in almost 3,000 hospitals and 400 surgical centers. I think that the increasing use of the monitor is a very good start to a revolutionary type of procedure. But, I think that we should take a look at the world and what people think is really important. Is it more important to spend a little bit more money and keep people from having these terrible experiences? Or is it more important to save that money and not care about the patient? I know that it would make me 100% more confident and comfortable going into surgery knowing that the machine would be there.
For Thousands, Surgery Is 'Awake' Horror
6 comments:
I just saw this movie “Awake,” which is about a guy who undergoes heart surgery, and because the anesthesia doesn’t work right, he’s completely aware of everything that’s happening to him. A real nightmare – obviously – and since I’m semi-claustrophobic, it somewhat freaked me out. I also happen to be a journalist, so I decided to look into whether something like this could really happen (I was skeptical), and was completely freaked out to discover that not can it happen, but it’s a real phenomenon with a real name (“anesthesia awareness”) and official recognition by doctors. “Good Morning America” ran a segment on the whole thing last week, following a meeting of experts in New York on the subject, and while there seems to be some disagreement over just how common this is, there’s no disagreement that there are things people can do to reduce the risk. I spent the next days boring everyone I know with the subject, and it turns out one my friends is very involved in the issue. She turned me onto a website called ORLive.com, which has lots of info.
The actual link is: http://or-live.com/anesthesiaawareness/index.cfm, and I would definitely suggest checking it out (especially if you’re planning to see this movie. Or have surgery any time soon).
i saw this movie and i was obsessed with it!! It was such a good movie and i love hayden christenson. How scary would it be to be awake during surgery and not be able to do anything about it? The whole procedure is crazy and it could really happen to anyone.
Right now iam currently watching niptuck season 1 and season 2 and they give the patients anesthesia every time. One time some one actually overdosed on anesthesia and died. Its a very scary thing and it could happen to anyone.
i saw this movie and i was obsessed with it!! It was such a good movie and i love hayden christenson. How scary would it be to be awake during surgery and not be able to do anything about it? The whole procedure is crazy and it could really happen to anyone.
Right now iam currently watching niptuck season 1 and season 2 and they give the patients anesthesia every time. One time some one actually overdosed on anesthesia and died. Its a very scary thing and it could happen to anyone.
I haven't seen the movie but I did watch the preview and it seemed extremely interesting. However, I had no idea that this phenomenon was so common. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we have ways to prevent this from happening but don't act on it. Saving money should definitely be the lesser priority in situations like this.
I think it is definitely more important to send the extra money to ensure that the patient is safe. I just watched this movie over spring break and I really enjoyed it. It was really interesting to see that something like that is real and so horrifying. I want to go into the medical field and I could not imagine performing a surgery and then finding out that the patient knew everything that was going on during it. However, I think it is important to realize that nothing is ever guaranteed. No matter how much money you spend a machine that is supposed to ensure the safety of your patient, freak accidents can always happen. Every person can react differently to a drug or procedure. For example, I had my wisdom teeth pulled summer going into my senior year and so did one of my other close friends. I had it done on a Friday so that I would be able to go to practice on Monday without missing any days. However, I had a very slow recovering and did not feel completely better until a week later. I ended up throwing up for two days. My friend, on the other hand, felt better two days later. We both had the same exact surgery done and took the same precautions, but had totally different effect. In conclusion, I think it is important to note that doctors can take all the necessary precautions and still have complications with a surgery.
I think this is a very good point. THe ridiculous amount of money being spent on surgeries by patients should assure a safe procedure. 5000 to 9000 dollars is not that much in the grand scheme of things. This was a very well written blog. you had a very blatant claim and backed it up with a lot of facts. Facts are crucial with a topic like this and you did a good job presenting them. It was a very interesting read and I think this would be a good piece for your final paper.
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