Hollywood has a tendency to take a reasonable concept and blow it out of proportion, citing artistic license, and more importantly, revenue maximization.
Unless it's a documentary, we're generally ready to write off the content of any film as "only a movie." The 30,000 people who fall victim to anesthesia every year say the film Awake has terrifyingly strong elements of truth. While experts have dismissed the dramatizations as exaggerations, Carol Weihrer, founder of the Anesthesia Awareness Campaign, says she screamed while sitting in the theater.
Seeing the film brought back memories of her own eye-removal surgery during which she awoke. Completely paralyzed from the powerful general anesthetics, she was unable to move or notify the surgeons that she was awake.
Anesthetics come in two forms: general and local. Local anesthetics selectively block sensory feedback from a part of the body; procaine (Novacaine) at the dentist's office is a good example. General anesthetics induce a deep sleeplike state in which patients cannot be woken, even from otherwise extraordinarily painful events. Of course, each form can further be subclassified many more times into their methods of administration, strength, and chemical base. Furthermore, other drugs are often used in conjunction with anesthetics, such as muscle relaxants, in order to aid surgeons in handling the patient.
For the most part, anesthetics are used conservatively. Local anesthetics are typically used in very minor procedures, such as drilling cavities or removing foreign bodies or small abnormalities from the skin. They are sometimes utilized in higher-risk scenarios when the patient should be awake, such as with epidurals used during childbirth, sometimes known as regional anesthesia. General anesthetics tend to be used in major surgical operations in which the pain or psychological effects of witnessing the operation are too great. Again, further criteria may be applicable based on the individual case.
2008 Woodie Awards
