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Woman awakes during hysterectomy op

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Woman awakes during hysterectomy op

A 53-year-old Swedish woman has reported that she awoke twice during the course of an operation to remove her uterus, according to a report in the local Smålandsposten daily.

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"It was a horrible experience, I heard what they said and felt them working away down there without being able to do anything," the woman told the newspaper.

The operation occurred at the end of 2011 and the woman was this week awarded 8,000 kronor ($1,216) in an insurance pay out and given a formal apology from the surgeons involved.

The woman described the pain as she awoke from the anaesthetic and how she tried to signal to the medical staff that she could feel pain.

"I struggled because it was so terribly painful, but without making any contact."

Both instances when the woman appeared to awake were noted in the medical journal and her dosage was increased to ensure that she went back to sleep.

The woman is reported to be dissatisfied with the pay out from her medical insurance and is considering an appeal of the decision.

While extremely unusual, so-called wakefulness is known to occur in patients under anaesthetic.

Rolf Sundin, an expert in anesthesiology at Kalmar Hospital, told the newspaper that global studies indicate that 1-2/1,000 patients experience the phenomenon.

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