A QUESTION ABOUT REOPENING SURGERY. IS IT SAFE FOR PATIENTS?
An important question for many Americans is, “Is it safe for me to have surgery during the COVID pandemic?” Is it safe to reopen…
Guide Group: For Patients
ANESTHETIC RISKS IN CHILDREN
What are the risks of pediatric anesthesia? What should you do if your 2-year-old son or daughter requires surgery and anesthesia? Is the anesthetic…
MODERN ANESTHESIA
Point/Counterpoint: Modern anesthesia techniques are radically different from the methods of twenty years ago. True or false? POINT: False. Twenty-first century general anesthetics are…
ARE SURGERY CENTERS SAFE?
Are surgery centers safe? This column is in response the Kaiser Health News story “How a push to cut costs and boost profits at…
HANGOVER AFTER ANESTHESIA
Prior to surgery your patient tells you, “I always have a hangover after general anesthesia. I sleep for hours and I’m nauseated. All my…
HEART ATTACK AFTER SURGERY
You’re a 55-year-old man with hypertension. How likely is it you will die within the next 30 days? Extremely unlikely. What if you’re a…
ADVICE FOR LAYPEOPLE: HOW TO MAKE YOUR ANESTHETIC SAFER
Patients, what can you do to assure you have safe anesthesia care? This is what the anesthesia experience is like for most patients: You…
HOW DO ANESTHETICS WORK?
I commonly hear two questions from my patients: “How do anesthetics work?” and “How do the anesthetic drugs make me fall asleep?” The short…
WILL YOU HAVE A BREATHING TUBE DURING YOUR SURGERY?
One of the most common questions I hear from patients immediately prior to their surgical anesthetic is, “Will I have a breathing tube down…
WILL YOU BE NAUSEATED AFTER GENERAL ANESTHESIA?
Postoperative nausea and vomiting is not infrequent. One of the most common fears patients have before surgery is, “Will anesthesia make me nauseated?" The…
PROPOFOL AND MICHAEL JACKSON … IS PROPOFOL SAFE?
Michael Jackson’s death begs the question: Is propofol safe? Propofol is the most commonly used intravenous anesthetic drug in the United States today. In…
HOW SAFE IS ANESTHESIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
Deep down, every surgical patient has the same worry: How safe is anesthesia and surgery? Methods of evaluating anesthetic mortality are inexact and controversial.…