The other day, the story in which the frivolity of the mother of a small patient almost turned into a tragedy was told by the Minister of Health of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Okhlopkov. The parent ignored doctors’ instructions and allowed his daughter to drink a glass of water shortly before a serious operation, reports The Eastern Herald.
During a medical intervention, this water gushed out of the girl’s nose and mouth. The competence of the specialists made it possible to save the patient’s life.
Resuscitator Aleksey Starchenko said that during operations under general anesthesia, the patient is connected to a ventilator and a tube is inserted into the larynx. The patient breathes through during the operation. The device is placed in a relaxed larynx, so the person is injected with muscle relaxant, a drug that relaxes the muscles. The specialist clarified that the drug also relaxes the muscles of the stomach, which can lead to the fact that the food “comes back”.
Starchenko said ingesting stomach contents, including hydrochloric acid, into the lungs can lead to reduced oxygen delivery and death. That is why doctors do not allow eating and drinking ten hours before procedures under anesthesia.
