When The Doctor Accidentally Injects Formaldehyde

[@danjoseph9581]

When I had hernia repair surgery, the nurses and doctor physically marked on my body which side to perform the operation and kept asking me which side I'm to get the surgery on. I thought it was weird that they kept triple checking over and over again. Now I know why

[@overlookers]

I love going in for chest inflammation and being shouted at for my personal information 4 different times by 4 different doctors. In hindsight, this might have been a lucidity test but holy shit.

[@TheLeannansidhe]

I recently had foot surgery where they double checked which foot and marked it. It was obvious which foot but the double checking ALL the time is definitely why the mistakes number is so low

[@IMBlakeley]

I went in years ago for minor knee surgery, a very tired looking Doc came into the ward to do the pre-checks "Ah Mr B, vasectomy reversal right?" and no it wasn't a joke. Realised it was my left knee they were working on then promptly drew an arrow on my right one and had to be corrected again. I was pleasantly surprised to wake from the anaesthesia with my gonads intact and my left knee having been operated on.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

😂 Dude, what a story, ​@@IMBlakeley!

[@autohmae]

@@TheLeannansidhe it's not uncommon people go in for surgery on the leg which doesn't look hurt from the outside. So it's best not to assume !

[@PsRohrbaugh]

My grandmother almost died due to medical errors / misdiagnosis a few weeks ago. She has LOW blood pressure and takes medication to raise it. The doctors just assumed this is an error (because it's really rare), and put her on medication to lower her blood pressure. When she went to the bathroom, she passed out and was unconscious for 10 minutes. Her blood pressure was 80/40 when they finally got her awake and back in bed. The real problem? THE EXACT SAME MISTAKE HAPPENED A WEEK LATER, with the same results. Thankfully she's a tough person and seems to have recovered, but damn.

[@BaharJennifer]

I’m so sorry about that.

[@Razmoudah]

Yeah, my mother fights a similar battle. She doesn't take meds to raise her blood pressure, but occasionally it will read just high enough to 'justify' a blood pressure med when most of the time it doesn't. She got her own blood pressure machine and checks it BEFORE taking the meds after she started to have problems with the meds regularly dropping her blood pressure too low.

[@barfy4751]

Get a lawyer

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@barfy4751 I guess it can't hurt to talk to one, but she ended up being fine, so I dunno if there are any damages to sue for?

[@HG-gj9lh]

I’m a nurse, we aren’t supposed to administer ANY blood pressure medications without first checking to make sure their blood pressure and pulse are within certain parameters. The directions for the medications specifically state to check. That failure is on the whole medical team.

[@bjs301]

I retired last year after 45 years as a medical regulator. Medical horror stories still occur but are becoming far less frequent. I've read about cases where the healthy lung or kidney was removed. Anyone who gets upset over all the checks and double checks done by hospital staff today, by the practice of writing on the body to designate surgical site, should be grateful these processes are now in place.

[@bobd2659]

Not to mention the in suite surgical checklists of every tool, clamp, sponge etc, used before and after to make sure numbers match and nothing is left inside that isn't supposed to be left inside.

[@krashd]

@@bobd2659 *"We think we may have found out what happened to Elizabeth. When we couldn't locate her we asked admin to send a message to her pager and that was about the time Mr Simmonds in the ICU complained of beeping coming from his chest."*

[@adamkohalmi7180]

I have personally witnessed that “writing on the…surgical site” being done on THE WRONG SIDE. So while I agree that we should be grateful that these “processes” are in place, it can also mean that the mistake and liability are literally just pushed down the line, perhaps even to a lesser qualified (more expendable?) medical ‘professional’.

[@bjs301]

@@adamkohalmi7180 We'll never achieve perfection. But every wrong-site surgery case I worked in the last 25 years, and there haven't been many, involved errors by multiple members of the surgical team. And all the detailed recordkeeping makes it much harder to blame the little guy, not easier. I worked a number of cases where many patients died, but they were all prescribing cases, not surgeries. And I'm not talking about drug allergies, I'm talking about prescribing to addicts. Literally all of the most egregious cases were dope cases, and nothing else comes close.

[@darkwing3713]

As a medical regulator what do you think of a doctor who finds out that his patient has applied for hospice (not because the patient told him), and then calls up the hospice director and says "she doesn't want to die"? At least that's what this doctor told me he said. Unethical or just insanely stupid?

[@McTacoDelight]

Here's a fun one. Did you know that local anesthetic doesnt work when you have an infection? I didn't, but I found out real quick when I was hospitalized for 5 weeks with a mysterious illness that was causing me to waste away. Eventually the doctors determined a liver biopsy was in order (they were looking for liver cancer). After receiving the local anesthetic they proceeded to insert the knitting-needle sized biopsy tool into my stomach, pushed through the skin, fat, muscle and peritoneum and I felt it all. I doubled over and in my fevered state took a swing at the doctor and called him an unpleasant word. Turns out I had a systemic histoplasmosis infection, masked by the cocktail of immunosuppressants I was on for another condition. They eventually diagnosed this and put me on amphotericin B, which is one of those "medications marginally less lethal than the thing killing you" and after several rounds of IV treatment the veins in my arms were bulging and crunchy like straws filled with glass. The point of this story? Modern medicine is a terrifying cluster-f*** of chemical carpet bombing and it saves lives.

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

Well, congratulations on your survival

[@homeland1128]

I could imagine this being an episode of House but here i am, reading it as somebody's experience in yt comm section😭😭

[@NthnLikeCodeine]

Just smoke some weed bruh 😅

[@seanmoyer7589]

Crunchy veins gives me the creeps

[@uhoh6092]

I’m glad you are okay but by god is that some unfortunate luck

[@chicken29843]

Something you missed about the story of the guy who went under surgery without the anesthetic is that they also tried to drug him with a memory erasing drug after the fact to cover it up and this played a part in his suicide more than likely because he was having traumatic episodes and not knowing where they were coming from

[@marioguti9887]

Yep, Mr Ballen covered this horrific story

[@ferretyluv]

Versed is normally prescribed for anesthesia.

[@eerieforest9188]

@@ferretyluv Versed is just to sedate them prior to induction, which is often done with propofol, and then you get a mix of mostly sevoflourane gas once intubated. .

[@TheTinFoilTiara]

This is one of the saddest most absolutely negligent stories I've ever heard. It breaks my heart.

[@a64738]

@@eerieforest9188 I once had surgery to remove my tonsils and they said they would only use local anesthesia. Last thing I remember is horrible pain and that they was trying to show the intubation tube down my troath. Then I woke up laying in bed at the intensive care are alone with moderate pain in my troath and it felt like someone had used my face as a punching bag aching all over. All they said was that the surgery was successful and I asked if they had put me under full anesthesia because I could not remember what happened, but I did not get any answer. I also remember like in a dream that they was holding my head still really really hard and in my mind they dragged me out of bed after my head (pretty sure that must have been a dream / hallucination)... I also seem to remember to have dragged the intubation out of me at some point with my own hands. I wonder what really happened lol :)

[@Razmoudah]

The worst situation for a misdiagnosis is when you already know what is wrong with you and the doctor doesn't listen because you don't have several years of medical school backing you up.

[@Louzahsol]

Fibromyalgia is fake

[@hypotheticalaxolotl]

@@ybtlamlliw "Yes, you're the doctor. And I'm the patient, sitting here for days in *VERY FAMILIAR PAIN*." As someone prone to ear infections, I feel your pain. ... No pun intended.

[@e7ebr0w]

I assume that comes from their capitalist nature. How else to make more money than doing tests. But in all seriousness, I'm sure hypochondriacs and Munchausen syndrome have played significant roles in the mentality of medical professionals

[@sheep1ewe]

@@ybtlamlliw Don't worry, all the nurses here are litterary, and i mean litterary, ech freking time i (and other persons) ever been there after the 90s, exactly like that in the village where i live... Even other doctors often get mad at that facility.... I had to make a phonecall to another doctor in order to get the darn pills for the bacteria inflammation my fot, and they prescribed antihistamines and gastric ulcer treatment whan i askad if i could see a doctor for a lymphatic blockage which frankly did not had litterary anything to do with any of that. The doctor i trust told me by the telephone that "If You actualy had gastric ulcers You would know it, for sure..." and "that is certanly not an allergic reaction, You need penicillin" (which they are very restictive with prescribing where i live because of the risk of bacteria develope penicillin resistance, so that was not something they would had said lightly to any patient if there was an alternative...) (Sorry for my English, it is not my native language)

[@keifwoki]

Report the Dr, Definitely follow it through. I think people should be able to trust professionals to know more than them about their profession. Same goes for Tradespeople, professional drivers etc. I've never ran into this issue, but it does seem common by the response here. Hopefully all is well with you now.

[@gregoryrothenberger4900]

I have had 5 knee surgeries and during one of them I woke up. I will never forget coming around and seeing the Dr. with what looked like a sledge hammer, small of course, cocked back ready to swing, lol. The anesthesiologist scrambling behind me saying, very calmly, you are ok, just breath, just breath, and then I was knocked back out.

[@DrewNorthup]

I suspect you wouldn't need a second try to guess how orthopedists tend to score on tests of psychopathic traits.

[@katscratchfever3506]

😳😳😳😳😳

[@onlyhannahfans]

LOL. this is absolutely insane. 4 minuscus transplants by age 25 and probably 10 scopes and I always feared this would happen from like gaining immunity to the anesthesia 😂 so glad it never happened, id never sleep again😳☠️🤦‍♀️

[@lisa8477]

I've woken up during 2 different surgeries, not fun for sure.

[@tandiparent1906]

Thanks a lot....getting ready to probably have a knee replacement

[@mrjones2721]

When I had major surgery last week, the anesthetist told me there would be “a tape across your forehead monitoring your brainwaves.” They don’t eff around nowadays-they make damn sure you’re not conscious.

[@ADyingFaith]

Does that defo ensure they know?

[@mrjones2721]

@@ADyingFaith Absolutely. If you’re awake to any degree, your brainwaves show it.

[@trashcan2748]

@@ADyingFaithThey should also be able to monitor things like heart rate, which will go up due to the stress. Different brain waves are associated with different levels of consciousness so those being monitored could help detect if a person is conscious.

[@BritneyLloyd-k9n]

wish they did that for the colonoscopy I had four years ago. Hoping they do that for my knee so I don't end up like the unfortunate soul above me.

[@jjsmama401]

The stories of people undergoing surgery and being paralyzed but feeling everything is the worst thing I can imagine.

[@Denidrakes69]

I remember it happening to me during a sinus operation when I was around six. I clearly remember the doctor saying sternly, "she's awake," and quickly being given gas and something. I don't remember pain, but I definitely remember being awake.

[@hamishfox]

The second one is even worse than it sounds. The anesthesiologist didn't forget to give him the Anesthesia, it just didn't work on him. He also had his eyes taped shut. And they didn't knock him out when they realised he was awake, they have him a drug to make him forget, and didn't tell him what had happened. He had severe PTSD and could no longer tell what was real and what he had imagined. He killed himself two weeks after the surgery. If they'd been honest with him, he might have been able to process what happened and get the help he needed, but they tried to cover it up.

[@SuperMrHiggins]

Daaamn. That's some major malpractice right there. edit: seriously, hope at least a few people lost their license to practice. At minimum.

[@nekolalia3389]

The amnesia drug is standard procedure. What you’re supposed to do afterwards is disclose to the patient what happened instead of crossing your fingers and hoping that a drug worked in response to an incident where a drug didn’t work. Even if it does, the patient has a right to know what’s happened to their body.

[@firek9195]

@@nekolalia3389 Wtf is this procedure? Now i'm scared of surgeries even more 😭

[@MrAvocadoMan]

@@firek9195 Wouldnt it be better to forget? The problem is in not telling him, because then he didnt know what tf he was dealing with and why he had those feelings.

[@TradBarbie]

After being told I have PTSD was very healing for me. I'm still not sure why, but knowing gave me an odd sense of relief.

[@brittanynye4268]

I feel bad for Dr. Liston. He was a good surgeon for his time. He helped pioneer the surgical use of anaesthesia, and some of the devices he invented are still in use. But he's mostly remembered for that one surgery with a 300% mortality rate.

[@matt38191]

Imagine you’re a cool guy, a smart guy but you KILL THREE PEOPLE IN THE SPAN OF MINUTES and that’s all people remember….

[@genghis_connie]

Yeah. I was a circus juggler for ages. You set ONE lady BARELY on fire with a loose, flaming mini torch - and suddenly all you get is a court date and the nickname “Butterfingers Flambeau.” Oh, and a lot of carnies singing “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys when you walk by.

[@brittanynye4268]

@@genghis_connie 💀💀

[@brittanynye4268]

@mattdaykin3819 I know killing three people is a big deal, but it was also an honest mistake that any surgeon could have made during that time. Compared to the ones who thought pain was required for healing, Liston was a lot better, and he had fewer patients die overall because of his speed and relative cleanliness for the time. Like, this was when barber surgeons were still a thing, washing hands and tools was frowned upon, and a surgeons worth was measured by how much blood stained his doctor's whites.

[@katscratchfever3506]

@@genghis_conniethe way I cackled 😂😂😂

[@CanuckMonkey13]

I had a misdiagnosis when I was 12. I had a problem, went to the local hospital in my small town, and got a correct diagnosis saying that I needed surgery. The doctor thought I would be better off at the larger hospital 50 km away, so he sent me there for the surgery. At that hospital, another doctor reviewed my case, decided I did not need the surgery, and sent me to a hospital bed for observation while I "recovered on my own". After almost a week, my mother decided it was silly to keep having to drive to this larger and more distant hospital every day to see me, and asked if I could be transferred back to the local hospital. This was the best decision she ever made (at least from my perspective). When the original doctor saw me again, he realized that my problem had gotten much worse, and he scheduled an emergency surgery for that same night (which happened to be New Year's Eve, 1989). Once they got a closer look, they found that I now had gangrene, and they had to amputate to save my life. And that's the story of how I woke up on Jan 1, 1990, with only one testicle. Great way to kick off the nineties! 🙃I remember thinking of the Beatles song Yesterday: "Suddenly... I'm not half the man I used to be..." I no longer think of my manhood as being defined in this way, but it certainly seemed apropos at the time.

[@bofa722]

Honestly I'd rather lose a ball than an arm or a leg

[@clairenewberry9957]

I love that song

[@aethelred9781]

I was actually thinking Stone Temple Pilots not The Beatles.

[@webshark0]

Hi! If it's okay asking, did it impact your leves of testosterone and overall growth, do you have to take testosterone daily? I imagine you can still have kids but the probability are lower?! I'd love to know! I hope you're doing well, take care 🫂

[@CanuckMonkey13]

@@webshark0 I don't think it affected my growth very much but I am shorter than average for my family. I went through puberty early though and was pretty tall already when everything happened. I have been getting testosterone supplements since some time in my thirties, and I always test at the low end of the acceptable range for testosterone. I haven't tried to have kids but I also assume that my chances would be lower. Thanks for asking, I am doing ok!

[@Kendramac]

My step mom has been through the ringer. She went in for a simple outpatient surgery and the anesthesiologist stabbed through her larynx while intubating her. She was still sent home, got a massive infection, had to have emergency surgery and get put in an induced coma so they could do more surgeries and leave her intubated, then she was finally extubated and they found more holes they had missed. She was in the hospital for over a month. She still needed a g tube placed, that got infected, now she’s struggling to find someone to remove the g tube because that’s usually done in the hospital but she was discharged with it. This is all after she had cervical cancer last year.

[@TheTinFoilTiara]

yup. that sounds about right. ER docs will send you home in worse condition than when you arrived and be like, "take a tylenol. come back when you're dying..."

[@oak_meadow9533]

@@TheTinFoilTiarai offer prayers for her and your family😢😢😢.

[@reignofbastet]

Holy crap! I hope she’s healed okay, and y’all took the recommendation of the above comment, and got an attorney.

[@Kendramac]

My step mom did eventually recover from this, with lingering GI issues. She and my dad were getting ready to lawyer up when they discovered her cervical cancer had returned and metastasized. They kept assuming her symptoms were from this event, and missed the return of the cancer for a while. The cancer was very aggressive and she had tons of tumors in her omentum, and the pressure it put on her digestive system made it impossible for her to eat enough food to sustain her. She died from cervical cancer, unable to eat for the last few months of her life (she was on TPN). She didn’t want to spend the end of her life on a legal case. After she died my dad and step sister met with some lawyers to sue for malpractice. They wouldn’t take the case. I don’t know why. I hadn’t heard of such an egregious error in person before. Her last “healthy” time of life was robbed by this anesthesiologist and what he did to her.

[@reignofbastet]

@@Kendramac Holy crap, I‘m so sorry. As someone who’s been in and around medicine most of my life, I‘m going to guess the dr. was well known, and maybe connected. I heard someone, several years ago, talk about the „thick medical line“, and how it was stronger than the „thin blue line“. I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Also, do you know of the dr. in the Chicago area that severely disabled a very young child due to his alcoholism? He essentially got a slap on the wrist, and it was *clearly* his fault. Again, I’m so sorry for what your family went through.

[@mrfoodarama]

My mother is someone that is evidently effected less by anesthetics and she was unfortunately conscious for the entirety of a surgical procedure. This was over 40 years ago and she still wakes up screaming once or twice a week. It upsets me so much to think this could happen

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

Yeah I'm afraid this would be me and that's why I haven't gotten my boobs cut off.

[@wyrdy-]

@@nuclearcatbaby1131 you have a very reasonable fear but i think boob removal is worth the risk ! i'm at high risk for mid-surgery wakeups because i've had multiple family members wake or be unaffected by anesthesia during surgery, but since my doctors know that, i get absolutely blasted with drugs to keep me down - and it works ! i've had 6 surgeries and 0 wakeups. i'm now 1 year out from top surgery and very very happy with my results :] i encourage you to go for it if it's want you want !

[@rowannnnnnnnn]

Is she a ginger? My mom is the same and it’s known that gingers (or really, just red heads) are particularly resistant or sometimes even immune to anaesthesia… it’s not a fun life

[@wyrdy-]

@@rowannnnnnnnn yep, she is ! it's a rough set of cards to be dealt for sure.

[@mikewhitfield2994]

During our neighbor's last actual nursing job, a blood thinner was prescribed for every single in-patient, no matter why they were in hospital, at a dose which typically would have been lethal, ten times the normal prophylactic dose. The nursing assistants had pulled the medication and were ready to pass it out when our neighbor and the other RN discovered the overdose. The dose just appeared on every patient's digital chart - no doctor assigned, just "corporate". Corporate never admitted to how that screw-up happened or who entered the prescription.

[@notchs0son]

So corporate almost murdered tons of patients and it’s just. Oh glad you caught that ahahhaha it was a “test”

[@Pepesmall]

They still do this for every hospital patient in my area. Presumably not a lethal dose but it is every day

[@Yossiloveu]

Ergo why RNS, and at a minimum LPNs, should be passing meds, administering insulin. (Im an ex CMA who cant count the # of x my sup (Rn) came in to talk about whatever and would be randomly poking thru the cyclefill, finding wrong meds, wrong doses, like you cant even make up how many f*ng x this happened! It always drove home the point of how little we knew, how many errors were coming from pharmacy right out the gate, cos they use techs with 1 credentialed pharmicist, same thing. Moral: always check the meds you get from a pharmacy, esp if its an old scrip and pills look diff. If you take a number of meds, you really should buy a nursing drug handbook, could actually save your life.

[@johnmccombe6342]

I once had a biopsy where the local a anesthetic didn't work at all. As soon as he started using his scalpel I felt everything. I told him the anesthetic wasn't working and he said "should I stop and put more in?" I said no, you've already started, just get it done. I felt every bit of that biopsy, the cutting, the stitches. It was insane.

[@heckfok]

i had a similar thing happen in december of 2022 where they removed a birthmark due to a risk of skin cancer. they applied more anesthesia but i still felt the entire thing :(

[@echotango4591]

Are you a red head?

[@johnmccombe6342]

@@echotango4591 yup

[@echotango4591]

@@johnmccombe6342 ya local anaesthetic doesn’t work on redheads, so I figured. You guys need scary high doses lol

[@homeland1128]

omg when a stereotype isn't really a stereotype no more

[@casbot71]

When I got my appendix removed as a child (in the 70's) *I could hear everything said* during surgery but felt no pain, only pressure. And I didn't imagine it as I quoted the doctor back to him afterwards. Specifically _"F*ck I'm never going to hear the end about this"_ ... I had a (asymptomatic) imploded¹ appendix and only got the surgery as a exploratory because my grandmother was a nurse who knew the surgeons father, and had pressured him to do the surgery. It also turned out I would have been dead pretty soon without it. - and he was right, my grandmother lectured him about being correct for years afterwards. And for teaching me a new word, even though I was supposed to be sedated at the time. ¹It's a rare form of appendicitis where the appendix shrinks instead of expanding, so there's no swelling for the doctor to feel and that particular area doesn't become painful, just general stomach aches and nausea. The appendix is still full of toxins however and when it ruptures you're just as dying as with a regular burst appendix. The chances of having it removed before it ruptures is very low however because it frequently gets misdiagnosed. A niece had the same form of appendicitis in the mid 2000's and they still thought it was something else (a faulty stomach valve) till she collapsed.

[@caitlinwhatthefrick2361]

I hope she still survived 🤞🏻

[@ricos1497]

@@caitlinwhatthefrick2361 yep, I feel like that story deserved an ending.

[@casbot71]

@caitlinwhatthefrick2361 She did. She was rushed to hospital, and it was treated as a regular burst appendix.

[@AshworthMild]

Feeling the pressure but no pain is my favorite! I've had a few surgeries where I was intentionally kept awake and I had a great time watching and having the doc explain exactly what they were doing.

[@caitlinwhatthefrick2361]

@@casbot71 thank goodness 😌✨

[@sunalwaysshinesonTVs]

I was being prep'd for surgery where they would be installing hardware into my leg from a horrific break. Rather than use an anesthetic, they were gonna paralyze me waste down so was given the option: "do you want to be awake or knocked out for the surgery?" Me being infinitely curious asked, "can I watch?" They replied, "No.... There are certain things one's mind just shouldnt see." Figuring Id be bored opted to get knocked out. WOKE UP ANYWAYS (which was fine since I was paralyzed), lol! to the sound of loud banging and feeling my body shake (from them violently hammering in the IM nail). That itself was a little traumatic, so perhaps a good thing I didnt get to SEE the actual process.

[@axiolot5857]

surgeries are very gory, you wouldnt have wanted to be awake lol

[@StrangeTerror]

Yea, the thing people don't realize it's that although we have a massive increase in understanding and far more sophisticated tools these days, medicine, particularly surgery, is still basically the same stone age methods we've used though out human history. Bone breaks? Force it back close enough to the right place it can heal and tie something hard to it to keep it from moving. Brain's swelling? Put a hold on the skull so it doesn't squish itself. Need to get into the body to remove an organ? Slice open their stomach. People don't realize how similar surgery and construction can look sometimes. Or how much it would mess up most people's minds to witness what it looks like behind the curtain that is all of our tech and grocery stores and what not. Most people couldn't watch a chicken get slaughtered but think they could watch their bone Spurs be chiseled out of their knee. ​@@axiolot5857

[@FronteirWolf]

Would've felt under more pressure if the patient was watching the surgery.

[@katscratchfever3506]

OMG! The way I would absolutely panic!!

[@Cara.314]

@@StrangeTerror i already know i could not watch, if i did you would not need knock me out, my brain would do it for you. i've i passed out from anything from smashed fingers (just pain, no gore), to gory movies. a surgery would be lights out in moments...

[@thezuguprojectANTHONYALBANESE]

My stepfather went through an entire Achilles Tendon reattachment surgery while being awake and fully aware, he was out enough that he couldn't move or tell the surgeons that he could feel everything......it was a nightmare that still haunts him today.

[@ZER0--]

I remember a documentary of a woman who had an operation and she didn't get the anesthetic and experienced the whole two hours of the operation in extreme pain. What was worse is that she went back to had a second operation, and unbelievably it happened again. She was so damaged by the experience she couldn't leave her house. I've never forgot it. Sort of haunts me.

[@mushyroom9569]

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

[@AnEmu404]

@@mushyroom9569yeah that one doesn’t apply to medical malpractice buddy

[@mushyroom9569]

@@AnEmu404 You’re right that’s not quite exactly what was going on there. Let me try that again.

[@chaddca]

There are countless stories of the wrong limb being operated on or even the wrong surgery being performed on a patient. This is why the surgeon will use a marker to mark the spot they are going to operate on with their initials and have a “time-out” with the surgery team beforehand to verify the correct surgery, site, and patient. (ER nurse)

[@AmyAndThePup]

I was awake for the time-out before my last surgery. It was really cool to be awake for that. But then, I'm a medical nerd. I found out later that they do that before every surgery. They went around the table, name, profession, who I was, what they were doing.

[@drbettyschueler3235]

I have a number of horror stories, involving hospitals, but I'll just mention this one incident. I broke my left arm. It was an oblique, complete fracture, up by my shoulder. At the same time, I had some serious heart problems so I was sent to the cardiac unit. A nurse put a big sign, above my bed, saying my left arm was fractured. A few hours later, a nurse came in and decided I needed to sit up in bed. Without a thought, she grabbed my broken arm to shift me up into a sitting position, ripping my motor cuff. It has been almost 20 years and I still can't lift my arm up very far as the rotor cuff injury was never treated.

[@jeremygalloway1348]

Hopefully you sued

[@damienICgaming]

did you sue the nurse

[@drbettyschueler3235]

@@jeremygalloway1348 No, I didn't sue. I had stage 4 breast cancer and heart failure and my husband had dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Stress was the last thing we needed. My husband did eventually pass but I'm still here, and still trying to avoid stress.

[@SuperVstech]

​@@drbettyschueler3235bless your heart!

[@arthas640]

One time I went in for a biopsy on a nyphnode in my neck and some dude came in with a razor and said he was going to shave me and I was like "wut" and he asked me to lift my gown so he could shave me and I was again like "you fuckin WHAT" and I told him I was there for a biopsy not surgery on my junk and he double checked my chart and then left. Thank God the ball shaver came in before the anesthesiologist or I'd have woken up with a very strange surprise.

[@185MDE]

As soon as you said “there was a surgery with 300% death rate” I was like I KNOW ABOUT THAT ONE because Joe talked about it before.

[@elijaheumags5060]

Wait... Wasn't that 300% mortality surgery anecdotal? What I have heard is that the whole story about that surgery was told by doctors and colleagues who hated Dr. Liston both because of his general attitude towards them and the fact that he was quick in his surgery. No evidence regarding the fact that the surgery took place was found, at least, from what I've searched.

[@Meeckle]

Me too🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@WizardClipAudio]

I’ve heard many content creators bring it up. The story is among the greatest epic fails, ever.

[@henrythegreatamerican8136]

The number one medical mistake of all time happened a few decades ago when doctors decided to let Donald Trump leave his mother's womb alive!

[@PneumaticFrog]

Joe rogan

[@clarasn40]

as a med student i love to watch these videos and specially reading the comments, learning from other’s mistakes is a good way to prevent making those mistakes myself

[@SegwayStan]

I had double knee replacement surgery almost a year ago. Beforehand, the surgeon came in with a maker and asked which knee. I said "both". He left to double check the chart and then came and marked both of my knees.

[@ZeroTimesZero]

What you didn't mention about Bob Sizemore (the man awake during his surgery) is when the doctors realized. They used a medication to try to erase his memory. This is what led to his confusion on what was real or not and ultimately led to him "unaliving" himself.

[@falconeshield]

So they killed him

[@ZeroTimesZero]

@@falconeshield indirectly. The procedure and the nightmares of his subconscious from them trying to erase his memory led him to take his own life.

[@minners71]

Unaliving are you for real? You mean he killed himself?

[@KingCobbones]

I believe the S-word gets censored here.@@minners71

[@MarcelKumer]

​@@minners71what? Yes thats what they sait. Why acting like they cursed your mother

[@AboutThatTime420]

My appendix ruptured when I was like 10. It's usually like a 1/2 day thing. In and out the hospital. Well, my appendix fully ruptured. Collapsed one of my lungs. It was bad. They kept me in the hospital for a few days but what confused all of the doctors was that my condition was getting worse. I wasn't healing like I should. When an appendix ruptures, it floods the body with fluids and bad things can happen. Usually you'll get pumped with antibiotics and heal up, but I was slowly getting worse. I was in the hospital for over 2 weeks. Doctors were basically taking turns trying to figure out why I wasn't healing, but getting worse. Finally, after like 2 weeks, either a nurse or doctor noticed that I was listed as weighing some like 45 lbs in body weight. (They weigh you so they know how much medication dosage to give you) Turns out when they weighed me, someone made a huge mistake and wrote down like half of what my weight actually was. So I was being severly underdosed. When they figured this out I was healed up in a couple of days and discharged. I was still pretty rough though, they put an IV in my arm, so I had an IV at home for like a week. It sucked. In the end, my medical bills were covered by the hospital.

[@falconeshield]

2 weeks?? That was enough to risk septic condition! You got really lucky!

[@JaneAustenAteMyCat]

Blimey

[@chiaracoetzee]

Most likely unit confusion. You probably weighed 45 kg (99 lbs) which is typical for a larger 10-year-old and they wrote down 45 lbs instead. Their scale may have been accidentally changed to a different unit setting without anyone realizing it.

[@Tasby12]

Bills covered? Was that their way of begging your family not to sue them?

[@ZeroTimesZero]

@@chiaracoetzee that's a really good theory. But is that possible with a non digital scale? As I'm assuming this happened to them years ago. And if it was America, we almost never used metric for weight.

[@Andrewbreeze316]

I’m so glad I got my cancer surgery last year BEFORE watching this video lmao. I would’ve definitely had more anxiety going into it lmao

[@biazacha]

Hope things are going better for you now Andrew

[@clairenewberry9957]

I made the mistake of watching this before my spinal tap 😭

[@chattycatty3336]

2:05 no i didnt, i clicked on a video mentioning formaldehyde😂 but I actually am curious to see how they amputated a leg in 30 seconds... So proceed 👀

[@noremac7216]

I was about to comment the exact same thing lol

[@blizzard_the_seal9863]

@@noremac7216 same lol

[@criticalevent]

Pain is the body's way of telling you to "stop doing that", but it doesn't really work when the "that" is necessary surgery.

[@thomashiggins9320]

The worst misdiagnosis I experinced happened when I was a small child. The pupil of my right eye wouldn't contract properly. So, the local family practice doctor in Corbin, Kentucky in 1967 immediately thought "brain tumor" and referred me to the Children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. There, they attempted to find the brain tumor. There were no MRI or CAT scan machines in Columbus, Ohio, in 1967. So, they went with slightly radioactive dyes accompanied by many X-rays and spinal taps to check for any indication of a tumor. Wanna know my when my first clear memories start, and of what? You get one guess. Anyway, this went on for nearly two weeks before my mom realized it (my aunt, married to a doctor, tried to spare her from knowing everything done). At that point, my mom asked if maybe they should just *check my eyes* . So, they did. Congenital glaucoma in my right eye only, with a uniquely delayed onset. Made the medical journals. Fortunately, no cancer from all the radioactive isotopes pumped into my brain -- but no super-powers, either. Dang it. 🤨

[@uhoh6092]

I’m very sorry that happened to you. You were a child and had no power in that situation. Fuck dude

[@oxeye3159]

that's wild, my mom's from corbin. any chance youre a Courtney or a Daniel?

[@Sentient.A.I.]

none of us got superpowers. Well no useful superpowers anyway

[@d.laveyyy]

maybe you just didnt get enough radiation for superpowers! just try taking more itll work, trust me. /j

[@wisedred]

@@oxeye3159 i think his name is in his username

[@michaelstoliker971]

I'm old, really old. I had cataracts that were making it dangerous for me to drive at night. I called it having a case of the greys which wasn't too much a problem on bright days, but at night, a bright light coming at me washed out my vision completely. So I got lens replacement surgery and problem solved. However, the surgery didn't go completely without issue. The first eye was done and nothing to report. The second eye was a little different. For this surgery, they sedate the patient, but they don't put you completely out. Now I'm a little bit nervous about people doing anything near my eyes and I might have threatened the doctor with violence if I woke up during surgery. So of course I woke up during the surgery. I couldn't see anything, but knew to be very careful with a doctor working on my eyes. So I spoke up saying I wasn't feeling particularly sedated. The doctor just said "I'm almost done, so just relax." I guess I was sedated enough that it made sense to me so I just waited for him to finish up. Fortunately there was no problem.

[@StarSailor1343]

Man, that sounds scary!! Glad everything worked out though. How are the new eyes treating you?

[@michaelstoliker971]

@@StarSailor1343 The new lens are great. I haven't needed a new lens prescription in over three years.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

This reminded me of how my mother died. My mother went into the emergency room for a blister that became infected. The doctors cleared up her infection. When we were expecting to release her, the nurse denied us further information and told us we needed the power of an attorney. This was rather odd, and we were jarred. I felt that we should do as the nurse suggested, but as the youngest sibling, I felt I should let my older siblings decide. They chose to do nothing. After all, you're safe when you're at a hospital, right? When we did talk to our mother, she said a doctor wanted to do an experimental thyroid surgery on her, but at least one doctor said it would kill her. This was another red flag, but again my older siblings had this wait and see attitude. After the surgery, she was doing great. Then one evening we got a call stating our mother had died. I felt horrible with a mixture of anger, frustration, and sorrow. I told my older brother that we should sue for malpractice, but my older brother said we couldn't because of some Oklahoma law protecting doctors from malpractice. Medicare saw what happened and refused to pay the doctor for the surgery. Then, the doctor had the audacity to send US the bill for the surgery. I'm still mad about that. We didn't pay him either. We don't know if he put a lean on the house or something. That doctor is a disgusting, evil man. My advice is that when a nurse tells you to seek an attorney, you get it and you get it FAST! My mom was old, but there's no telling how many more years we would have got to have with her if it wasn't for that horrible doctor. She did in 2012. The world didn't end as the Mayans predicted, but our lives were changed forever.

[@rmw9130]

I am so sorry that happened!! That is awful. A point of clarification: sounds like the nurse said you needed a "power of attorney" which is vastly different than needing an attorney. Telling you that you needed a POA (power of attorney) is still super odd under those circumstances. Maybe she was trying to warn you about the bad DR somehow?? Overall that DR should have been sued and reported.

[@estherliu5033]

i’m pppooooppooouoppopo poopoo ololplpop

[@BlackSeranna]

A power of attorney means your mom gives you power of attorney to make some decisions for her. Unfortunately, a POA needs to have a notary make it official. I don’t know if they have a Notary in the hospital? Your mom would have had to sign in front of the notary, and then yourself. A power of attorney can work well if you get sick and you trust someone to make some decisions for you, like pay bills or make medical decisions if you are in a coma. However, signing a power of attorney over to a family member who you don’t trust can work against you, especially if it isn’t limited. Like, you wouldn’t want to give someone/anyone/an untrusted acquaintance the permission to sell your house. This is why a limited power of attorney is good if you know you’re going to be really sick or in a coma and in a hospital for a while. Like, if you had seizures and are worried about making sure the bills are paid, you might want to have a specific POA saying that any ust r individual would be able to have access to a bank account just for making sure everything is being paid okay, and the bank will allow this trusted individual to ask questions and make decisions (if that’s what you allow). You have to be very specific of what permissions you give on a POA. This is to protect you. Also, the POA is only good as long as you’re alive. When you die, the POA will no longer work. These are just an example.

[@killtyrant]

It sounds like the nurse couldn't provide you further information because you guys didn't have Power Of Attorney. Also what afflicted your mother? There is a pretty sizable leap from a infected blister that was clearing up to needing experimental surgery. Experimental treatments are hailmary passes when everything else fails.

[@echotango4591]

@@killtyrant yeah, half the stories on here don’t make any sense from a medical perspective and it’s clear that a lot of the problem is the massive information gap…

[@timetraveler_from_2012]

9:16 Wow, it's a shame this happened. If only there was an explicit warning on the oxygen container telling you to keep it from sparking equipment. Somebody should definitely totally make this non-existent warning a real thing and put it on every single oxygen container.

[@Vousie]

An error rate of 1.1%??? That's extremely high... A lot higher than I expected. Especially when about 1/4 of those end up killing the patient.

[@thebugcoiiector]

in just 1994, it was 3.4%. count yourself lucky!

[@Vousie]

@@thebugcoiiector So... "Doctors were accidentally killing a lot more people 30 years ago, so we should just be happy that it's slightly better now (even though we're still fairly likely to get killed now)" Is that what you're saying?

[@chrisblake4198]

The number of things hospitals and medical care have done in recent years to improve reliability and reduce errors is pretty remarkable. It may be annoying but there's a good reason they ask you to verify your date of birth several times when you're getting your blood drawn, or before an XRay. They make sure you are who you're supposed to be, and that each of those tubes is correctly labeled as being tied to you so they're handled correctly. Same thing if you're admitted each time they give you medications.

[@snugglemuffins762]

I drew blood for work and asking to repeat date of birth became second nature to me and I’d forget if I even asked it some times But once out of my 5 years at the place I did actually have the wrong patient cause I walked into the next room, a bit embarrassing but saved me from drawing the wrong patient

[@Chrismas815]

An expression that was reiterated constantly while I was in the Marine Corps was "complacency kills" and I don't think anything could prove that more than these cases

[@Nefville]

In March I had surgery on my right inner ear to fix a spasming muscle problem. It took 2 years to get it diagnosed. However a few days before surgery in the pre-op phone call they mentioned in an offhand comment fixing the issue with my _left_ ear. Except.... the issue was in the right ear. They were so sure it was the left that I actually had to convince and assure them it was 100% the right ear. Somehow the mistake made it so far they actually had to delay the procedure to set it up again for the right ear. Idk if it was a close call but it felt like it. It was a success btw.

[@westworld237]

can I ask what your symptoms were? I have TMJ problems, sinus issues, ear fullness, random ear “flutters” and I’m wondering if (at least a part of) it might be to do with the muscle in my inner ear?

[@citrus_sweet]

My mother is a doctor. I came to her because I suddenly couldn't hear after a very long rainstorm (our region doesn't rain a lot) and ear pain. She said it didn't seem like a problem. Cut to a week and a half later when a dime sized SCOBY covered in black spores falls out of my ear before I tell her again that I should probably go get it checked. All that ear pain for prescription medication that literally cost only 12 dollars tho LOL like come on 🙄

[@sully-coco]

I received multiple misdiagnosises over about 10 years for the same issue, from multiple doctors. Was put on multiple medications I never needed for conditions I never had. One of the big things they kept hammering on me was, because of my symptoms, it must have been an STD of some sort, but I was a virgin until my 20s. They didn't believe me when I said I was a virgin. Only in 2022 did I finally see a doctor who figured out what I had, (lichen sclerosis) she is the best doctor I've ever seen and one of very few who not only made me feel seen and heard but restored my faith in doctors in general as well. I'm just thankful it was never anything life threatening. Its still a condition I will have for the rest of my life, but finally knowing what it is has helped immensely.

[@jasminejeanine2239]

I got that diagnosis at age two. That being said, I was taken in front of a whole group of doctors. Like you, it was a younger woman doctor that suggested lichen sclerosis. Everyone originally thought she was crazy bc lichen sclerosis is usually a problem older women deal with not two year olds.

[@KyrieFortune]

Many STDs transmit in ways that have nothing to do with sex, usually by blood mixing. This is why one of the main vehicles of HIV is used needles and why all syringes in hospital nowadays are single use

[@BeautifulMutanto]

This was a hard watch, but interesting. My dad was killed in 1999 when he was young and healthy by a doctor who neglected to remove a gauze pad from my dad's body before suturing him up... after an elective surgery. This led to sepsis and multiple organ failure. It was Doctor Wood at Rancho Cucamonga Hospital in Southern California. The Doctor settled out of court with my dad's widow, so he got away with the homicide. I myself became a doctor subsequently, so that I could one of the few ethical docs out there, and I have spent the past 25 years making sure people know what that man did.

[@davidallen803]

This also happens in Dentistry. During my first rootcanal the seditave wore off, the Dentist didn't notice, but her assistant did. Mouth wide open can't say anything, but my eye's said it all with tear running down the side of my face in agony, until the second shot made it all go away.

[@graceslick705]

I had to see a specialist to get my root canal, because one of the roots had a bend in it. Fast forward 5years and come to find out he left one root behind. Also had a bridge work from another dentist and it lasted maybe 2months before the bridge became loose. Now just waiting for my new insurance to kick in to hopefully get both problems corrected. Not to mention my trust of dentist and anxiety are off the charts.

[@cannibalbananas]

Being awake but the doctors thinking you're still under is a real fear of mine. I have to have more sedative than most because it doesn't affect me correctly, ie. I was given 3 shots during a wisdom tooth removal because I could start feeling what was happening; it just kept wearing off quickly. I also started feeling it at the end of a c-section when they were starting to sew me up, and I had a spinal. Anywhoo, it's why I always ask to remain awake - so I can tell the doctor when I start to feel pain.

[@Shakis87]

do you have ginger hair? anesthetic doesn't work as well on gingers apparently

[@cannibalbananas]

@@Shakis87 I do not, but now you make me want to ask my brother-in-law if he has any issues w/ anesthetic.

[@mycosys]

Anaesthetic insensitivity is really common in Hypermobility syndromes. I have woken up 2ce during twilight sedation surgery (and remembered) - fwiw it was kinda fun. was joking with the doctors, high as a kite. Also had no idea dentistry wasnt supposed to hurt til my 30s when i found about about the insensitivity - now i just ask for double to start.

[@cannibalbananas]

@@mycosys They tried to sedate me as a kid cuz I had excess teeth they were removing - but I never went fully under. I remember feeling my leg sliding off the chair & kept picking it up which bumped their tray, and my field of vision was a circle, so it looked like everyone was in a washing machine. They let me fully wake up and told my mom they were just going to numb my mouth instead. And I do have hypermobility. Learn something new everyday - thank you :)

[@vlmellody51]

I have ginger hair, and I woke up during my thyroid surgery.

[@kohanrains776]

14:54 i love that their reasoning for be skeptical about anesthesia is "if the body doesnt feel a wound can it heal it the same?" And not "well we dont exactly know how the stuff works we just know it does"

[@bigmike-mg6fj]

I got ankle surgery this year for a bad avulsion fracture, and istg every single time I saw a doctor or a nurse they checked with me to make sure they were working on the right foot. They confirmed it and wrote on it with sharpie before I went under, messing that up 3 TIMES with NEUROSURGERY is insaneeeee

[@thexadgaming]

10:05, the section about the wrong blood type. In 1966 my Great-Grandmother died when she was given the wrong blood type during a surgery.

[@HEXDRIX]

To add a crucial detail to the 2nd story, one of the doctors put in an order for a very strong memory loss agent, allegedly to prevent him from having too much trauma. They also undersold their mistake to the family. This did not work, as you stated he battled with even remembering it happening, often questioning both his own traumatic memories and what was told to him and his kin. Turns out you can't just chemically forget life-altering trauma.

[@matthewoconnell4700]

When I was 27 I went to the doctors twice and the hospital three times with chest pain and shortness of breath, the first doctors visit they told me it was panic attacks, every subsequent visit to doctors or hospital they read my history and went with panic attacks, two weeks after my last visit I nearly died of a heart attack.

[@iamcleaver6854]

Heart attack at 27? Were you overweight?

[@diyeana]

​@@iamcleaver6854you don't have to be old or overweight to have a congenital (from birth) heart defect that causes your heart to fail.

[@matthewoconnell4700]

@@iamcleaver6854 nope, birth defect.

[@biazacha]

@@matthewoconnell4700 birth defects are scary cause you usually only catch one when something goes wrong - my older sister was born with weak lungs and we only know it now cause she caught COVID and it was pretty bad… she’s a doctor herself and yet we had no idea.

[@matthewoconnell4700]

@biazacha yeah I had no idea either, I just started feeling ill for about a year, it got worse until I started struggling for breath, felt like I was breathing but it wasn't working, really hard to explain, but I knew something was wrong, like I said in post I went to the doctors who just said it was panic attacks, which I knew wasn't right I don't think I've ever panicked in my life lol. It got worse over the next few weeks, triedthe hospital, doctors again, no one would listen and because the first doctor had put panic attacks on my record they just assumed that was the issue. Like I say two weeks after the last visit full blown heart attack.

[@zaco-km3su]

Dr Robert Liston was not only fast but also cleaned his instruments and attire. That was rare. He was also one of the first surgeons that wanted to use anesthesia. There is a story about that. He also tried to avoid surgery as much as possible. Regarding the side of the brain story, for surgery you have to shave your hair. It didn't make any difference for her hairstyle. That hospital had issues though.

[@landiahillfarm6590]

I started working at the hospital associated with Ophthalmologist the fomaldehyde story about a year after it had taken place. I can tell you that now almost 40 years on, it is still being used a a classic case study on OR procedures and why they must be performed meticulously.

[@Derpysaur]

I'd like to add something to the second one you talked about the one with the paralysis that you might have missed. The reason why he was so tortured with the feelings was because the hospital gaslighted him into believing it didn't happen, this is probably because admitting it would also be admitting guilt. But the main problem with that was that the medication that they gave him after they found out he was not unconscious made him forget pieces of what happened. that being paired with what the doctors were directly telling him drove him crazy, they made him think that something that he knew happened and trauma that he went through wasn't real, and made him think he was crazy and that's what drove him to suicide. If the hospital would have just admitted what they did he could have been able to get treatment for his trauma or even just have concrete proof that it happened and that he wasn't crazy or something, there's a very strong possibility that his life would have not ended that way, and that's why the hospital was sued. And they 100% deserved it, they valued their image more than that person's life.

[@CogitoNM]

I got a tooth pulled when I was a kid and the anesthesia was sufficient only to immobilize me. I could only feel pain and cry. Great experience, absolutely no trauma. Totally don't have a thing about dentist 30 years later.

[@iceman5413]

When I was 15 I broke my ankle. Doctor asked if I wanted to go to sleep or watch it. I obviously chose to watch! They paralyzed my legs from the waist down. After a few minutes, the operating doc came in and asked me to touch his hand with my foot. Leg didn't move. He looked very worried. I panicked. Then the nurse came in (my friends aunt) laughing. It was a gag. We all laughed. Watched my surgery with morbid fascination. What a great day :)

[@mycosys]

A friend of mine was the son of a doctor, a molecular biologist himself. When he went in to have his kidney removed (cancer, sadly he dint make it, he was one of the best people) he marked himself with a sharpie and wrote "OPEN OTHER SIDE" on the side he wanted to keep XD

[@silvercandra4275]

Two years ago, I had to have 4 wisdom teeth removed in a surgery. There was an issue though... if you've had that type of surgery, you know they keep you like, half awake, only numbing you, and administering this stuff that puts you into a half asleep state... Yeah, the second part of that didn't work. And I have some really really bad trauma related to dentistry. I ended up being wide awake and entirely conscious for the whole thing, listening to the doctors and nurses bitching about "why do they always have to get the anxiety patients" until the one keeping track of my vitals finally spoke up and just said "I think we should stop." Out of 4 of those teeth, they removed one, because the idiots didn't want to listen to me when I told them I have trauma related to this stuff, and that the anesthesia they wanted to use wouldn't work. Safe to say, my trauma got a _teensy tiny little bit_ worse from that. I don't want to imagine what more invasive surgeries are like, if you have to be awake for them...

[@SilveniumTheDrifter]

Mine had to keep telling me to stop talking/trying to talk when I was getting over half of my teeth surgically removed. Lol. The same thing happened to me during my tooth removal, though there were quite a few more teeth involved, and it was quite a bit more invasive!

[@Leslie_ann_h]

I had 23 of 23 teeth pulled in about 3 hours using the following for anesthesia and "anesthesia"- 20 vials of novocaine for my top teeth (half went in the roof of my mouth...... yes I screamed till I couldn't anymore) and the other half at strategic points on the cheek sides of the teeth, and the last 10 went in strategic points around my lower jaw along with holding my at the time service dog while she was doing deep pressure therapy (she passed away at the end of March 2020, rip sweet cookie girl). I did follow the oral medication protocol that my pain management provider gave me three days before having all the extractions of- 2 15mg morphine tablets and 1 2mg of klonopin tablets (yup, I was high as a kite but my pain management provider did reach out to the dentist about it, so he was cool with it, lol). Afterwards, the dentist and his assistant were apparently a bit hearing impaired as they both said that their ears were ringing, but the dentist said that he would rather have someone who screams but keeps their head still as opposed to the opposite. Come to think of it, any time (most often for nail issues with my feet, so by my foot dr) I have had lidocaine for local anesthesia, I always get told that I can scream as much as I need to but whatever I do, keep whatever part is being numbed, still/don't move. Eta- yes, I have Sjogrens syndrome which led to my teeth being wrecked from dry mouth although many of my meds didn't help matters.

[@KyrieFortune]

No, I don't know, because where I live the anesthesia for wisdom tooth removal is solely for numbing and have a painless surgery, you are in fact still fully conscious. I am actually glad this was the case, because it actually relaxed me, knowing exactly what was happening all while getting none of the nasty side effects. It didn't even hurt than much once the anesthesia was off

[@oliviavanbrink]

I was fully put to sleep during both my spinal fusion surgery and my wisdom teeth removal/minor jaw surgery, however I clearly remember some parts of the operation. I can remember some things that the surgeons said (as confirmed by repeating the statements back to the surgeons), although thankfully there isn’t any emotion or pain attached to those memories. The odd part is there is no other evidence of my being awake for any part of the surgeries, through vital signs or anything else. The only evidence I have is the memories from while I was operated on

[@erukaseven]

And I don't even remember getting in my dad's car, the drive home or most of the rest of the day. But I was also fully out with very sideways teeth.

[@Kai-z3j1g]

when i was diagnosed with cancer i had to have a bone marrow biopsy (they drill into your bone and suck out the juice) and my surgical team messed up BIG time i was completely aware and could feel EVERYTHING but none of the nurses, anesthesiologist, doctors would listen to me when i told them. it’s one of the most traumatizing things ive ever experienced

[@JadedJessica]

I'm a triplet, so my mother had to undergo a c-section. The anesthesiologist missed her spinal cord when doing her spinal block, and hit a vein. She was rendered unconscious temporarily, but when she came to, she was paralyzed by the medication, but wasn't properly numb. She said she felt them cut her open from hip to hip. They didn't realize it until she started seizing. They managed to get her spinal block fixed, and all 3 of us out, but not before some of the anesthesia got into my sister's system through the umbilical cord. They had to really work to get her to start breathing. Thankfully, (and miraculously) all 4 of us survived mostly unscathed. Mama has some permanent nerve damage, though.

[@BluegrassKnight]

I have a family member who, woke up during a surgery and he said it was horrible, he still has stress and dreams about it! I can only imagine that feeling of something painfully in your body moving around and I truly feel for anyone who has went through this! I think I'd rather just stay completely awake and able to communicate, rather than this happening me, also there are a lot more medical mishaps than people know about, many more!

[@deboracopeland4795]

Woke up during a surgery and tried to sit up. Have to say my last surgery was amazing the dr removed a 20 pound tumor. It was in muscle, spine etc It took him hours. How did the tumor get that big you ask. For months, almost a year I went to the dr every month and was told I had anxiety. Women are often gaslighted in medicine. I kept telling them there is something really wrong with me. Finally went to the ER and they did a scan. I asked them if an X-ray would have seen it and they said yes. The reason I asked is because I had asked for an X-ray and said I would pay for it. I was refused.

[@davidbiagi2932]

My uncle had that exact same thing happen to him when he was in the hospital. The thing caught on fire and it went up his nose and down his throat and gave him severe burns and is still having to go and have surgeries to help fix it to this day. Unsurprisingly, the hospital is trying to say it wasn’t their fault and are fighting against his lawsuit.

[@AZREDFERN]

I’ve been conscious for 2 surgeries. First when they were sewing my tongue and lips back on after an accident, and second when my wisdom teeth were being removed. I let them know the second time I have an anesthesia resistance, and it still happened. I could feel as they shattered the tooth and were extracting the pieces. It really didn’t bother me, and I have an extremely high tolerance for pain. More like a threshold where it doesn’t hurt past a certain point. I did develop hemophobia after the first accident, to the point where I can’t hunt anymore, or donate blood without blacking out before getting to the chair.

[@asukareilin]

I had an emergency appendectomy a few months ago and lo and behold I woke up during surgery! I couldnt move or speak but I could feel and hear everything. Hurt like hell but it didnt last long so no trauma.

[@corod-1]

I had umbilical hernia surgery, and in that surgery, you are 1/2 under and need to communicate, well I was fully awake and aware, they didn't believe me at first so I started to describe everything they were doing. They panicked and tried to finish by adding local lidocaine and unfortunately mixed up the stitches using the dissolving ones on the outside and the normal ones inside. A YEAR later they had to use the electric scalpel to go back in cutting the built-up scar tissue to cut them out, using only local lidocaine this time...

[@katscratchfever3506]

I had umbilical hernia surgery just a few months ago and I was 100% asleep 😮

[@jackalovski1]

This makes me feel better about loosing both my parents to misdiagnosis but 1.1% defect rate is too high. Like, I was in A&E last moths after an overdose and there were more than 100 people in the waiting room, statistically at least one of those people should have had a mistake.

[@danielleburke87]

Hope u get clean buddy I've been clean since 6-14-21. I've overdosed 5 times and was an addict for over 6 years. It is possible and u can be the 1/10 that get clean.

[@yallprettysus]

Yeah, but somehow his math is off 😅 36mio to 100'000 isn't 1.1% its 0.27% (which is also crazy high)

[@chickensmack]

My colon ruptured two days after my wedding day in 1988. A few weeks after being released, I was readmitted for a suspected abdominal infection. It turned out to just me a hematoma, but I had began vomiting, incessantly, so they could not send me home. We battled this for 4 days, until I asked the nurse what the new bag on my IV was. She said, “It’s your Flagyl.” “Ugh. I’m allergic to Flagyl.” She got my file from the foot of the bed. In huge red letters across the front was “Allergies: Flagyl.” Needless to say, they stopped giving me Flagyl and I was able to go home in under 48 hours.

[@AngryAnt0]

The brain story was the first time I've actually shouted out at my PC "oh god" in a very long time (I think the last being a teenager and told to go look something up). Medicine has come such a long way, simple things that they do now are considered science fiction from years gone. I actually used to work in a hospital in my early 20s and so knew alot even as a very low grade ward support, but found out for instance when they now do surgery around the brain, they will put the skull into your stomach, so that when they come back to eventually replace it, it wont be rejected by the body. To add to the horror stories, I sadly lost a cousin a few years ago, he had a blood clot in the leg, was given thinning drugs and it sadly went to his heart and needed an operation. It has a small chance of the clot moving up to the brain, no one decided to monitor it as the chance was so low.. I'll let you guess where it went.

[@coolgmodvideos2011]

WHAT DID YOU LOOK UP?!

[@WildernessExcursions]

Back in the early 90s, I woke up on the operating table while getting a small one foot section of my intestine removed. It was the worst pain imaginable before they were able to put me under again. More than 30 years later I remember it like it was yesterday.

[@marcopohl4875]

Can you imagine what the anesthetiologist in story 3 most have felt like. You knew that something was wrong before everyone else, but after it was to late to do anything about it. I would never be able to practice medicine again after that.

[@Merennulli]

The lesson isn't to avoid the hospital but to double check everything - which a good hospitalist (the medical professional who sets up your hospital care) will tell you to do. 1. Make sure they have you clearly mark down or verify the operation being done. For the foot example, they now will often have you write "NO" on the wrong foot and some other clear indicator on the correct foot. 2. Read the PDR (Physicians Drug Reference) for every medication you are prescribed, and make note of every drug you are given in the hospital. You have to know 3 things for your own safety - other names (in case you are given something you aren't supposed to have), interactions and what side effects to notify the doctor about. AND ask your pharmacist about interactions because they are better at checking that. You want both your own check and the pharmacist because they are better at it than you, but you reading it makes you more aware of the interactions in case you forgot to tell the pharmacist something. Notably, I didn't mention the doctor because they are working off a formulary, they don't know much about what they are prescribing beyond what to use it on so you can ask but don't stop asking at the doctor. I have had 3 different doctors prescribe me doxycycline under a different name right after telling them I had a bad reaction to it. 3. If you don't feel the doctor is listening to you, get someone else involved. You might be imagining it, or you might be getting bad care, so have someone else with you on your next visit who can tell you if it's just you. Doctors not listening to patients is a natural result of too many patients who read WebMD and jumped to conclusions. But it's dangerous when they don't listen to symptoms. 4. Have someone checking on you regularly or staying with you when you are in the hospital. Most of those errors in hospitals are neglect. Staff is overworked and sometimes patients don't get noticed or listened to. Speaking from experience, you can't avoid medical care but you have to be an active participant in your own care to help them help you.

[@acarpentersson8271]

10 years as a paramedic and i lost all confidence in doctors, nurses and hospitals. I responded to a patient with a doctor present who had altered level of consciousness. When i got there the lady was barely breathing, what we call aggonal breathing. Its basically the body taking a few slow, shallow breaths after the patient has lost consciousness because they are basically already dead. I found she had 2 heartbeats in the 15 seconds i took to check for a pulse. I told my partner she was going into cardiac arrest. I asked the doctor, who was telling somethings that really didn't matter, how long has dhe been breathing like this. About 10-15 minutes, he said. I noticed her tracheotomy had a brown colored substance in the end that was obviously preventing her from breathing. I said, well, it looks like she's about to die from suffocating and ran out the door with her. She quit breathing a few feet from the truck and was dead. As soon as we got in the truck I puller her tube and inserted a new one. Gave a few breaths and barely any chest compressions, and she opned her eyes, started breathing and had a pulse with a nice rhythm on the monitor.

[@sadamiamani]

I always love the comments under these videos. Full of people sharing their experiences in detail

[@sebastian3450]

your videos are genuinely one of the only things keeping me going nowadays. please never stop creating, you make life easier to deal with , even if it’s just with a youtube video. thank u for existing joe

[@pm7734]

Are you OK?

[@StrilanGaming]

@@pm7734I don't think so.

[@sebastian3450]

@@pm7734 thank you lots for asking man. life is just tough rn that’s all. tbh you even caring enough to ask made me smile pretty good tho, so thanks for that too. hope you’re doing wonderful

[@sharonrocks6502]

R U Okay buddy? God bless you 🥰

[@3abxo390]

As ridiculous as it is to try to diagnose based on a comment, I was in a sort of similar state. Turned out I had undiagnosed depression. I'm very thankful to the doctor who correctly diagnosed me (revisiting that thankfulness after watching this video...) And antidepressants are a huge help (fuck any and all stigma!) Another thing that helped a lot is neurofeedback. It's completely non-invasive. Check it out. And best of luck! 🐬

[@BaldAndCurious]

I had this personal training client that told me about a similar thing that happened to her when she had an ankle surgery. She was paralyzed but she was FULLY conscious. I was so horrified i didn't date to ask her any more details like if she sued. After that ordeal she never got any of the subsequent surgeries that would have fully corrected her leg. She opted to just make the best of what she had and got physical training just to function.

[@basementdwellercosplay]

As a teen i had my wisdom teeth removed and i was so scared that I'd be awake during it that i started having a panic attack as the doctor explained it to me. Thankfully they were nice and my mom and the nurse helped calm me down. I was so scared of being awake in surgery it took me 30 minutes to calm down of the doctor explaining it wasnt extremely unlikely to happen. I didnt have any problems during surgery but in a checkup i mentioned that i had really bad pain left side of my front bottom teeth. Turns out the bone wax used to help heal my jaw had moved down through a vein and stuck where i was hurting. They removed it in the offices procedure room after numbing my mouth and i had no problems after that.

[@azariacordova2848]

My dentist pulled my wisdom teeth out without enough anesthetic. It was incredibly painful. I told them I was in pain while they prepped with a scalpel (?) to remove the teeth, and they gave me a second dose, but they were in a hurry, and instead of waiting for the second dose to take effect, they continued with the procedure immediately.

[@POT8R]

My dad miracously survived medical malpractice after going through a surgery for a problem he had in his wrist, he was given too much of a medication which stopped his heart for almost 2 minutes and gave him some serious brain damage. This was 15-20 years ago, he is alive and well now but he can no longer live live normally. He says since the brain injury he no longer has any muscle memory, now needing to cognitively think of almost every movement he makes. Despite all that he is still extremely successful bringing in about 150k-200k a year from home.

[@spiceninja]

A few months ago I shaved my head and ended up in the hospital with a bad strep infection in my scalp. My head was swollen but a few days of IV antibiotics saved me. Crazy to think that if that happened by chance just 100 years ago you’d be dead and there was no way to help.

[@juliee593]

And your tombstone would say "died from bald"

[@LackofPants]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Antarctic surgeon who had to remove his own appendix back in the 60s. I think you’ve talked about it before but it fits with this video’s theme.

[@drunkpunkrat5764]

Leonid Rogozov! It takes guts to dig in your own guts.

[@tiffanymarie9750]

My PCOS got misdiagnosed as "just being fat" lol dude seriously believed agonizing period pain that made me faint was because of my weight and didn't even consider that both could be symptoms of something else.

[@darcieclements4880]

If I had a nickel for every time I hear that one...

[@juliee593]

Hot take. Even if it was caused by being overweight, first of all you check for other possibilities, and second, you still give the patient a solution instead of just calling them fat.

[@angrybidoof847]

You could go in with a broken leg, like bone sticking out of your leg and they jump to you're fat lol before even looking at the bone. Pro tip: ask them to put it on your record that you suggested (insert thing you think it might be) and they refused to test for it (or just that they refused further investigation) . They tend to change their tune when it's written down and useable as evidence

[@doc_arsenic8595]

Well.... losing weight DOES help with chronic conditions...

[@tiffanymarie9750]

@@doc_arsenic8595 you're purposely missing the point. PCOS caused my weight gain, I had tried to lose it and found it impossible. Actually treating the underlying condition helped me get that under control in addition to dealing with the dysmenorrhea and insulin resistance. The POINT is that bad doctors will just make assumptions without doing their due diligence and that can cause harm to their patients.

[@Rainstorm__11]

9:26 imagine waking up from a surgery and the hospital tells you "so you lit on fire during the operation"

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the woman whose IV tube and food tube were mixed up. She died from hot soup being injected into her bloodstream. This was in Brazil, where the healthcare system isn't as good, but still

[@BrianBorawski]

That is the reported error rate. I have had multiple surgeries where they had to be repeated or revised, they were never reported as mistakes. Due to pseudocholerersteae deficiency, been awake during surgery and paralyzed multiple times. Significant PTSD from that. One time they mixed two meds and almost killed me, no one took responsibility. Too many doctors cover for one another rather than focusing on fixes because of the risk of lawsuits.

[@pourcelaine]

Waking up during surgery is one of my biggest fears in life. How did you find out that you had a exuberant deficiency and that’s what caused the problem? I’m so so sorry you went through that trauma. Absolutely inexcusable.

[@stefani.m.1987]

My dad had a heart attack on November 21st. He went to the ER that day, and the doctor told him he has a 15% chance of having a heart attack in the next ten years, but shouldn’t be concerned about it happening any time soon. Literally, word for word, that’s what he said. That night, a massive heart attack killed him. 💔🥺 I’m angry, he was only 51, my mom is widowed, my family and all of their friends are still grieving. I feel that was a major failure by the health care system, on a man who never wanted to go to the doctor, so we knew it had to be serious when he did, just to be brushed off like he was. 🥺😔

[@shelby8101]

I’m so sorry. My dad is 58 and absolutely despises going to the doc. He’s had multiple (small and major ) heart attacks since he was in his 30s. It’s so terrifying thinking he could go anytime. He has meds that supposedly help. I assumed they do since he’s still here.. your comment made me so sad because I feel that could easily have been my story too. I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way I don’t always know how to phrase things. But my heart goes out to you

[@stefani.m.1987]

⁠​⁠@@shelby8101I am the same way, I don’t always articulate my thoughts like I want to, and I worry things may not be received as intended, so no worries. I’m sure it is very scary and I’m sorry you have that fear💔 My dad had never been diagnosed with any heart issue, and even at the ER the day, they basically told him his heart was fine, by saying what they had said. So he went home and that night, told my mom his jaw hurt (she knew right away what that meant, because it’s a big sign!), then collapsed. She’s a nurse so she started CPR (though being a nurse and at home doesn’t really matter at that point😔) and called for help, but it was so instant. By the time I got there (I live an hour away), and was finally told that he didn’t make it, it literally drops you to your knees, but after you stand there for what seems like minutes trying wake up from what must be an awful nightmare. 💔😔 I hate it so very much and still doesn’t seem real. So I absolutely understand why it would scare you, and knowing that it could happen. I’m so sorry and, though I don’t know you, I truly hope your dad never experiences the big one, and that you don’t have to experience that traumatic loss. It’s just awful, wouldn’t want it for anyone. Thank you for being so sweet! It’s been an emotional time. I share more than I normally would. 💔🤍

[@ArtisChronicles]

That's probably my future

[@VantaDraws]

God, that’s awful. I hope your family are slowly doing better, this sort of thing is never fair. Wishing you all well

[@sanguinesatellite808]

such a similar thing happened to me. my dad had a stroke and was admitted to the hospital. a few months later, they said he was recovering well and was incredibly unlikely to have another one, only for his life to be taken by another one. he was only 50.

[@KristenRowenPliske]

I remember when they started marking the limbs meant for removal. It was always protocol to have the patient identify themself and what procedure they were having before they were taken to surgery, but actually marking the limb only happened maybe 15-20 years ago. It had probably been in the bigger hospitals downtown for a while before it got to our smaller hospital. It’s Usually done in the presence of the surgeon and a lot of times the patient was given the marker themself to write on their own body.

[@avivagodfrey]

My first college had a mightily incompetent clinic, to such a degree that the whole student body said, "You'll go in with a cold and come out with crutches." Ironically, the college's nursing program had a very good reputation. These doctors still take the cake, tho.

[@thefloop2813]

1:59 No, i didn't. However, continue.

[@sidlives2672]

When I was having surgery on my eye, they asked me multiple times along the way to confirm which eye was being operated on. Many, many times. And another thing while they were performing the surgery was that I was somewhat aware of what was going on. I thought I was verbalizing the ow, ow, ow and did feel the tugging at my eye. Not a lot of pain as they did also use a local to minimize the general they were using.

[@jmelande4937]

Most Eye surgery is done with light sedation only. This should have been explained by your anesthesia team BEFORE the surgery

[@sidlives2672]

@@jmelande4937 They may have mentioned that. But I wasn't exactly paying that close attention to what they were saying due to the stress of the situation. As I said, there wasn't any pain due to the local they administered, so this was clearly not the same situation that the patient that only had the paralytic. It also reminds me of when I had my wisdom teeth removed. One of the teeth needed to be split in order to be removed and I could feel the reverberations in my head when the tooth split. Again, no pain due to the local, but it was a bit disconcerting.

[@bootblacking]

I screamed multiple times during this vid. This should have been your Halloween vid! I remember hearing a fairly recent interview with someone who endured a surgery while paralyzed but awake, he has severe PTSD now.

[@douggaudiosi14]

I doubt you've ever screamed at a youtube video stop being so damn over dramatic

[@Thurgosh_OG]

You appear to have a very extreme reaction to this, perhaps you need to seek medical help, with a phycologist. People shouldn't be screaming in reactions to medical stories where they don't even go into gory details about what happened.

[@maxsmodels]

I had a medical misdiagnosis when a young doctor misdiagnosed a crushed dermatone as a strained back. Luckily another more experience doctor corrected the mistake.

[@NameChange-y2e]

The fact that nurses and doctors are expected to function on little to no sleep is a major factor in mistakes I would imagine.

[@owen8510]

We had an awful tragic unnecessary death at my local hospital. 30 year old man,Type 1 diabetic, died after an unidentified nurse pressed the "reset" button on his dialysis machine when the alarm went off, without checking the tubes were connected. He lost three pints of blood in seven minutes, went into cardiac arrest and died on October 18, 2019

[@ghosttheoremproductions5469]

I woke up in the middle of an operation. That's how I found out I'm resistant to anesthesia. Zero out of five stars - Do not recommend.

[@Bushidounohana]

“You can’t heal if you don’t feel.” … Brilliant! And on a more serious note, I really appreciate the tempering of potential hysteria by noting the prevalence of these types of errors. I also want to echo the smooth transition to the sponsor spot-we as patients are all our own best advocates. It’s easy to surrender your health to highly trained professionals, but the doctor’s office is the last place you want to go on autopilot. It’s your health-actively engage, ask questions, and don’t be shy about obtaining clarity and the answers you need before any procedure. Take a trusted friend/loved one in with you to serve as another set of eyes, ears, and inquiry. Take notes. Study up before appointments. As an individual disabled with chronic illness, I can attest to both the cost and the reward of taking ownership of your care. It’s not always easy, but you’re always worth the struggle. Not to say that any of these errors are the patient’s fault, mind you, just a gentle “yes, and …” to Joe’s suggestion. Great work, as always, Joe!

[@Dokkieee]

5:13 “heres the kicker” 😭

[@professorwillywoppers8951]

When I was in middle school I got a testicular torsion by playing football, and it required surgery to repair. The procedure involved sedating me, then slicing open my scrotum and nailing a tack into my right testicle to prevent it from anymore twisting. But the anesthesiologist messed up and didn't give me enough knock-out juice, and I woke up during the middle of the procedure on the operating table. I remember coughing once and immediately feeling the worst pain of my life. I started screaming, crying, and trying to get up. They had five big doctors come in and hold me down to the table, very reminiscent of a victorian surgery. I can remember getting hit with a syringe and everything slowly fading away. When I woke up again I was in post-op, wishing that's where I had woken up the first time, because I remembered everything that happened during the surgery. It was the most horrific thing I've ever experienced, it was ten years ago and I still have nightmares about it.

[@uaa_uag_uga5774]

Similar thing happened in the hospital near the city I live in. A guy needed to have his left eye taken out (not sure why). There was some confusion when writing the diagnoses, because the person went through multiple doctors before the surgery and of one these doctors wrote down that they needed to take out the right eye. So the surgeons did. Imagine waking up thinking that you still have at least vision in one eye but then they tell you they took out the wrong one so you are blind forever. Terrifying

[@Reinvention2-qo2tw]

I just had a chemo port put into my chest for cancer treatment. I found out at the last minute that I would be awake. I was terrified, but is was actually great! I felt nothing, and kept telling the doctors what a great job they were doing. 😂

[@joz6683]

Samuel Pepys had a bladder stone removed in 1658, the size of a tennis ball. In the past, surgeons were stoundingly quick with the only thing the surgeon could do to mitigate the agony was to operate as quickly as possible. Frère Jacques was said to have cut 20 patients an hour in Paris in the 1670s; William Cheselden's record was for an operation was 54 seconds.

[@JerryFlowersIII]

It's hard to imagine that the 300% surgery fatality was probably the least horrific story in this.

[@ashleyj0]

I have a story. When i was 26 University of Iowa hospital in IA city- the head or urology almost killed me. It was around 2009. He was doing a laproscopic surgery to repair a defect on my kidney & sewed my intestines to my abdominal wall. I began to vomit bile, which they blamed on me requesting too much pain medication & it shut down my digestive system. They put a stomach pump up my nose. Long story short... i had to have a 2nd emergency surgery to remove the 12 inches of dead intestine caused by his mistake. I got a horrible bladder infection bc they never changed my catheter. A 2 day stay ended up being a month.. and i was close to death. We tried to sue but a commoner does not just sue the university of iowa hospital. Instead got a small settlement medical bills wiped and that doctor lost his job.

[@emmettobrian1874]

Your brain is like an iPhone, you can open it up and fix it, but you're not supposed to.

[@DrunkenUFOPilot]

Now there's a quote I'm keeping in my notes! Especially since years ago I had written 3D graphics software for neurosurgery planning. It is amazing what we humans can do!