Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Or

Hospitals told to reduce risk of patients waking up during surgery

Published in Surgery Litigation and Law Weekly, October 29th, 2004

A medical accreditation group urged hospitals nationwide to take steps to prevent "anesthesia awareness", instances in which patients wake up during surgery and sometimes feel excruciating pain without being able to cry out.

An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 patients wake up during general anesthesia each year and about one-quarter of them report feeling pain, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations said in an alert sent to the 4,579 hospitals it monitors nationwide.

The sensation is described by some as being like "entombed in a corpse."

"Some patients describe these occurrences as their `worst hospital...

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Source: Surgery Litigation and Law Weekly (2004-10-29)

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