There has been some suggestion on the list recently that muscle paralysis as a sole agent for
intubation might be a good idea.
I beg to disagree, not from any medical opinion, but as a former patient who had received this
sort of treatment, during the aftermath of a serious mountaineering accident. I consider it to
be barbaric and totally unacceptable. Having a size 9 ETT passed is only the start of it - a
patient thus treated can still feel pain or any other sensation and can still hear all that is
going, a fact which may be overlooked since the patient now appears to be "unconciouss".
Patients who are unintentionally awake during anaesthesia get lots of money through the courts
- to deliberatly do this, albeit in the pre-hospital environment, might have your defence
organisation doing their best to disown you!
Chris Cheeseman
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