Denise Heinen

I am a victim of incompetent and negligent anesthesia during my Caesarean on March 9, 2003.. The anesthesia team consisted of an MD and a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) who failed to diagnose inadequate spinal anesthesia. The doctor stopped talking to me before the operation began and disappeared shortly after. I did my best to convince the critical care nurse who was sitting next to me that I was in pain and that the right side of my abdomen was not numb.

As my surgery progressed I said that the anesthesia was wearing off. At first she told me that I was just feeling pressure. I persisted with my complaints and she suggested I just breathe through it. I was paralyzed with fear and pain as she dismissed my complaints.

In the recovery room, I told the CRNA that I could feel my feet. She continued to dismiss my complaints. In addition to suffering incomplete anesthesia during surgery, I had to wait for pain medication after surgery because they had failed to place an order for the proper medication, Demerol, until after I arrived in the recovery room. I had earlier informed them that morphine did not work for me and that I required something else. They had failed to place the order and had difficulty locating the Demerol.

When I told the OB about my experience, he too dismissed my complaint. I wrote a letter to the hospital administration and they told me that no one had perceived my pain. I filed complaints with the DPH and they have chosen to do nothing.

“Current anesthesia requirements were met” they all said. But, current standards do not require anesthetists to assess pain. Solution: Change the standard to assess and record pain as a vital sign at the same intervals that blood pressure and pulse are evaluated.

I continue to be haunted by my experience. I now suffer from serious tremors and sleep disturbances. How could two people, the anesthesiologist and the critical care nurse disregard my pleas when their very job is the alleviation of pain?