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Cosmetic Surgery Anesthesia
Date Published:
Tue, 2008-05-27 SUBJECT: Cosmetic Surgery Anesthesia
posted by Barry L. Friedberg M.D. on 27 May 2008 at 10:35 am
The road to Hell is always paved with good intentions. One can most certainly empathsize with the niece of Donde West for her loss. However, AB 2968 will not make the slightest improvement in patient safety. Should all 18-25 year old otherwise healthy female patients be subjected to this unjustifiable expense? (No.) Would a physical exam revealed Donde West's pathology? (No.) Could any physician perform the physical exam? (What about a pathologist?)
Donde West did not die from 'clogged' coronary artery. Her autopsy revealed a 70% narrowing of her right coronary artery. There was NO clot inside the artery and there was no evidence of muscle damage downstream from her right coronary artery or anywhere else in her heart muscle. The autopsy was inconclusive as to the exact cause of death.
Blood analysis revealed 'normal' levels of narcotic for the doses prescribed for postop pain but this was likely to be too great for her system to tolerate.
The common denominator many of the Florida deaths (including Stephanie Kuleba), as well as Donde West's death, is the use of general (inhalation) anesthesia. In the West death it was the failure of general anesthesia to provide postoperative pain relief necessitating the use of opioids. In the Kuleba death it was the inadequate availability of Dantrolene as well as the paucity of people required to administer the antidote.
All of these deaths are avoidable by performing minimally invasive anesthesia (MIA).® More information available @ http://www.cosmeticsurgeryanesthesia.com - a patient oriented, non-commercial web site dedicated to improving patient safety through knowledge of a safer, simpler anesthetic.
MIA principles are also currently being utilized by the US military in the field hospitals in Iraq & Afghanistan. Surely, if this form of anesthesia is safe enough for wounded soldiers, it ought to be so for elective cosmetic surgery patients.
Read the news article that this opinion was posted about: California Lawmakers Seek Tighter Plastic Surgery Rules posted on Medical News Today