Woman wakes up during surgery

AK370Z · 11-18-2008, 11:35 PM

A Northern Territory woman has endured a nightmare operation at Alice Springs Hospital after she became conscious during stomach surgery but remained paralysed by the anaesthetic.

Quote:

Rebecca Jones, 24, told the Northern Territory News she could feel every cut of the surgeon's knife during the operation last month but was unable to scream for help as the anaesthesia had paralysed her.

Ms Jones, who was being operated on for gallstones, said she could not open her eyes but could hear and feel everything.

"I thought the doctors had woken me up because the surgery was over — I quickly realised that was not the case," she was quoted by the Northern Territory News as saying.

Ms Jones realised her predicament when she took a breath and found she couldn’t move, but eventually moved her hand to get the attention of surgery staff — to no avail.

"(Someone) said, 'she's just moved her hand' but they kept going," she said.

The hospital's general manager Vicki Taylor admitted to the NT News that Ms Jones had been awake during the operation but denied medical staff knew of her pain.

Ms Jones is now considering legal action against the hospital.

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