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Operation question

Say if you needed a operation, went for a general anasthetic and just after you were injected with the anasthetic you said 'stop, I don't want it done' would they not perform the operation? I was discussing it with mates who said they would ignore the comment and class it as the patient being confused.

Reply 1

Tarts_n_Vicars

13

I don't know, though the time between the anaesthetic being administered and you falling asleep is pretty slim so you wouldn't have too much time to raise an objection. I would think that they'd ignore you as you'd previously consented to the operation and your objections could be due to panic....

I'm sure the med students will know lol

They'd proceed.

You are told before being given the anaesthetic that it is your last chance to back out.

Besides, who would back out of an operation after getting that close?

Reply 4

brimstone

7

I'd carry on with the operation.

Reply 5

MagicNMedicine

20

You wouldnt have time, from my experience! I was out like a light.

I would think that the doctors would have to proceed, youd be under the influence and have plenty of time beforehands to 'back out'.

Here's another one actually if there's med students around. One of my mates got his teeth smashed playing rugby as a teenager and has a lot of crowns at the back of his mouth. When I went for my anaesthetic the anaesthetist asked if I had any crowns because it could react with the gas (I think)....does that mean someone with lots of crowns couldn't have an anaesthetic!?

Reply 6

bob_54321

presumably not the gas ones, but an injected one should be alright if the gas was the reason, im not so sure. and yeah, from my experience i wouldnt have thought you would have chance to say anything. when i had i remember them saying count down from ten and i got to about 9 and thats all i remember, lol. it was quite surreal, kind of enjoyable tbh, not that i would want anything to happen again that would require one.

Reply 7

ciderpeter

1

GeorgieK

You are told before being given the anaesthetic that it is your last chance to back out.

Besides, who would back out of an operation after getting that close?

Homer Simpson? :p:

Reply 8

allmyshoes

1

if i were the person about the do the operation, i wouldnt be able to go through with it. but i'm not a surgeon, so i dont have to worry about that.

and georgiek is right, you get your chance to speak out before that, anyway, so i would hazard to guess that its a very slim chance someone only thinks "hang on, no, wait" once they've had the anaesthetic.

Reply 9

Shmerm

I was more focused on the weird feeling creeping up my arm and moving into my face. Then I woke up with a face mask on and it was 2 hours later! Still, I would have had time to say "I dont want the operation" but if it's something minor you've already had the anaesthetic so you might as well go through with it.

I was 14 and so they put me in a children's ward, and I found everyone so patronising, it was rediculous. I was the oldest patient in the ward and I hated it. They made me read Where's Wally to try and distract me. I didn't want distracting! I knew what was about to happen and wanted to focus on staying relaxed and knowing that once the operation was over everything would be so much better!

And some of the other kids were REALLY nosey. I didn't want to talk about my operation beforehand with anyone else, and this kid kept asking me what I was there for. I just said I didn't wanna talk about it, but he KEPT asking. I got annoyed and walked away pretty quickly.

I felt really ill after my operation. I managed to be sick 7 times in 2 hours. Luckily I got to go home that night. Then I was sick again and had a nose bleed that lasted about 20 minutes.

Good times :rolleyes:

Reply 10

InArduisFouette

21

MagicNMedicine

You wouldnt have time, from my experience! I was out like a light.

I would think that the doctors would have to proceed, youd be under the influence and have plenty of time beforehands to 'back out'.

Here's another one actually if there's med students around. One of my mates got his teeth smashed playing rugby as a teenager and has a lot of crowns at the back of his mouth. When I went for my anaesthetic the anaesthetist asked if I had any crowns because it could react with the gas (I think)....does that mean someone with lots of crowns couldn't have an anaesthetic!?

Dental work does not react with 'the gas' ( a mixture of gasses and volatile anaesthetic agents ) , the reason you will be askked several times if you have caps, crowns, false teeth, plates etc is one of airway management ,

1. to be aware of potnetial hazards that this may pose ( i.e. knocking them out etc.)

2. so they don't damage your dental work when they intubate / pop an LMA in and have to pay for you to get it repaired

Reply 11

octanethriller

2

Anonymous

Say if you needed a operation, went for a general anasthetic and just after you were injected with the anasthetic you said 'stop, I don't want it done' would they not perform the operation? I was discussing it with mates who said they would ignore the comment and class it as the patient being confused.

If they did continue then it would be a battery i.e. they would have committed an offence as you withdraw consent. This is however putting it on very simple terms. Circumstances surronding the case may change the situation e.g. is this surgery necessary an life threatening? Did they have capacity to consent? etc.

Reply 12

kookabura

13

zippyRN

Dental work does not react with 'the gas' ( a mixture of gasses and volatile anaesthetic agents ) , the reason you will be askked several times if you have caps, crowns, false teeth, plates etc is one of airway management ,

1. to be aware of potnetial hazards that this may pose ( i.e. knocking them out etc.)

2. so they don't damage your dental work when they intubate / pop an LMA in and have to pay for you to get it repaired

:dito: Thats what I was told when they were asking me before my operation. They asked if I any crowns or bridges or false teeth etc. I said I hadn't, they said fine, they just ask in case as there can be problems with the tubes etc that maintain the airway knocking them out.

As for the OPs question. I dont know what they should legally do in a case like that. The patient (or the patients parents etc) will have signed forms agreeing to the operation so legally I guess they would still be allowed to carry it out. I suppose though it would depend on if they thought the patient was still in a fit state of mind when they said that they didnt want it or not. When I was given the injection they told me to count down slowly from 10, I think I got to about 5. So you would have about 5 (fairly long) seconds, which would be enough time to quickly say that you dont want the operation, but not much more.

Just as an aside point, I was intrested in how long I was 'out' for, and I was looking at a clock when the injected me, counted down from 10 and thats all I can remember until I could hear someone keep saying my name - which was one of the nurses. The first thing I then said to her was - what time was it. It just seemed funny to me that it seemed so important to me to ask that as the first thing when I woke up - even to the point of taking my oxygen mask off so that I could ask!

Reply 13

browneyes

hi there

I am a nurse and can confirm that any time you say you don't want to go ahead with the operation then they will stop the procedure, even after you have signed the consent form. Problem is, as people have said, and speaking from experience, the time to having the first part of the anaesthetic to going unconcious is seconds so you probably would not have chance to say you have changed your mind.

this part of the induction process does not make you confused just very very very relaxed, so even though I have not heard of anyone changing their mind after the first part of the anaesthetic if there is any doubt about your wishes they would not procede (too much at stake regarding litigation)

regards

Reply 14

Barny

17

I once screamed to stop my operation, but the doctors just looked at each other and said:

"IGNORE HER, SHE'S MENSTRUATING"

Reply 15

El Scotto

15

Anonymous

Say if you needed a operation, went for a general anasthetic and just after you were injected with the anasthetic you said 'stop, I don't want it done' would they not perform the operation? I was discussing it with mates who said they would ignore the comment and class it as the patient being confused.

If you could get out "Stop... I dont want it done" in the amount of time it takes for the Grey liquid to start working, then they wouldnt do it.

But when I had an op, I only got to the count of 3, then was outcold!

Reply 16

RetiredAccount89

18

MagicNMedicine

You wouldnt have time, from my experience! I was out like a light.

I would think that the doctors would have to proceed, youd be under the influence and have plenty of time beforehands to 'back out'.

Here's another one actually if there's med students around. One of my mates got his teeth smashed playing rugby as a teenager and has a lot of crowns at the back of his mouth. When I went for my anaesthetic the anaesthetist asked if I had any crowns because it could react with the gas (I think)....does that mean someone with lots of crowns couldn't have an anaesthetic!?

i don't think its aught to do with the gas, i think its because when they are playing about in the throat, putting in airlines and all they might knocka crown loose and the person choke.

Reply 17

browneyes

In reply to magicnmedicine

the reason they ask about loose crowns is simply that they need to be aware of it when they intubate you and knock them off. there is a possibility wil go into your lungs. It's a standard question on the pre-op checklist. having crowns won't stop you having an operation.

Hope that helps

Reply 18

browneyes

missed a bit off re the crowns:

I should have written that they need to know about loose crowns as there is a risk of knocking them off if they don't know they are loose

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