Anesthesia awareness is just one of the many common fears that patients have about surgery. This fear has been heightened by psychological thrillers, horror movies, and television dramas. Other fears that patients have included having bizarre side effects, having foreign objects left inside them, and having their organs sold on the black market. Recent studies have shown that the probability for these fears to happen is much lower than anticipated.
Brad Stahlheber, an anesthesiologist located in Jenks, Oklahoma, addresses some of these common fears and more. Below is what you should know about anesthesia awareness and other common fears that are heightened by Hollywood. As you’ll notice, these are fears that are created from a wild imagination, not backed up by science or facts.
What is Anesthesia Awareness?
This is not the only fear that patients have is that they will wake up in the middle of a procedure. This common fear is known as anesthesia awareness and has been featured in movies and television such as the 2007 film Awake and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Anesthesia awareness occurs when a patient is aware of the conversation and any pressure or discomfort that’s felt during the surgery. This is the not only side effect that Hollywood loves to exaggerate.
Here are some films and TV shows that may make patients uncomfortable about their impending surgery.
The Eye
The Eye is a movie that’s meant to scare you away from having anesthesia. The thriller stars Jessica Alba who is a blind violinist who undergoes a successful cornea transplant. There’s just one problem. She has premonitions of people who are killed moments before their murder.
Audition
This graphic film is about a man who gets his leg removed with a piano wire from a hack surgeon. This addresses the concern that many patients have about illegal surgical procedures. Audition is obviously a fictitious film, but still gives patients the fear that their doctor will perform surgery with the wrong instrument.
The Human Centipede
The Human Centipede is a classic horror film that puts surgery in a bad light. It’s about a German doctor who kidnaps his patients, removes their body parts, and stitches them together to make his own creature. This film causes anxiety and nightmares in patients who are undergoing surgery. While this looks like a fun Halloween film, it gives patients nightmares about undergoing surgery.
Coma
This Michael Crichton film shows Michael Douglas playing a surgeon who lives a double life. Movie watchers quickly find out that he’s selling his patients’ organs on the black market at his local hospital. This thriller makes patients wonder what really happens to their organs after they’re removed. If this were to happen in actual life, the surgeon would risk losing his job and having his license stripped.
Awake
Awake is a film about anesthesia awareness in which a patient is conscious but paralyzed during surgery. Hayden Christensen plays a character who has to stay put as he hears tools get sharpened and overhears the surgeons talk about their plans to kill him and celebrate his death. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) wasn’t too pleased with this film. They knew that this film would elicit the same kind of fear in patients that Jaws did to beachgoers.
Grey’s Anatomy
There’s also the controversial episode of Grey’s Anatomy in which a patient woke up during surgery. Dr. Milton left his patient on the table when the hospital received a bomb threat. Most surgeons and anesthesiologists wouldn’t intend to leave their patients behind if such an event occurred. Neglecting a patient is grounds for firing and losing their license.
Brad Stahlheber is an anesthesiologist you can trust. He attended the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma prior to attending med school and becoming an anesthesiologist. He attended Tulsa Regional Medical Center where he graduated in Anesthesiology Residency in 2008. Dr. Brad Stahlheber has been working at St. John Medical Center as a well-respected anesthesiologist.
Dr. Brad Stahlheber has treated thousands of patients during his ten-year tenor. He’s also become an expert who believes regional anesthesia is a great alternative for pain management to reduce the Opioid epidemic.
