A patient in the US was awake for 13 minutes of his surgery because apparently his anaesthetic was never turned on.
In mid-2020 the patient, Matthew Caswell went into Progress West Hospital in O’Fallon, Missouri, for hernia repair and removal of a lipoma on the back of his neck.
However, he soon became aware that something was amiss.
“I knew I was in trouble when I felt the cold iodine hit my belly and they were scrubbing me off. At any second I was waiting to go out, but all of a sudden I just got stabbed in my stomach,” Caswell told local TV station KCTV.
Caswell’s lawyer Kenneth Vuylsteke told MedPage Today that a paralytic agent had already been given to his client, and then the mask was put on to receive sevoflurane for general anaesthesia, but the flow of the gas was never started.
Caswell able to feel pain and hear operating room conversation for 13 minutes, he told KCTV.
During this, his vital signs surged, said Vuylsteke. Records shared with MedPage Today show a baseline heart rate in the 65 to 70 range, which skyrocketed to 115 beats per minute within a few minutes of the first incision.
After the first incision, Caswell’s blood pressure also shot up, from a baseline of 113/73 mm Hg to 158/113 mm Hg — severe hypertension.
Vuylsteke noted that hat should have been ample warning that something was likely wrong with the anaesthetic.
What he gathered so far is that Caswell was brought into the operating room and given the paralytic agent. The anaesthesiologist or the nurse anesthetist put the anaesthetic mask on him, but then the surgeon requested to see the lipoma before starting.
Caswell was turned over so the surgeon could see the lipoma. He was then put onto his back again, and the mask was put back on, but the sevoflurane was never turned on, Vuylsteke said.
A “Significant Event Note” is in hospital records that acknowledges that a “review of the anesthetic record demonstrates a delay in initiating inhalational anesthetic after induction of anesthesia.”
The note indicates that Caswell and his mother were “immediately informed regarding the delay in initiating the inhaled anesthetic agent until after the start of the surgical procedure.” The hospital “provided emotional support and discussed our intention to ensure his pain and anxiety over the event were well controlled in the immediate term.” The hospital also recommended a psychology consult for which they would cover the cost.
Caswell charges that he’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks because of the experience.
He’s suing the anaesthesiologist, the nurse anaesthetist Kathleen and also their employer, Washington University in St Louis.
“I would have rather died on that table,” he told KCTV.
Source: MedPage Today
