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Re: PSA: Wound care - Also can do some medical Q&A

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if you'd know this but, if someone was brought into the ER by ambulance and they needed abdomal surgery, would the doctors do it right away? I'm just thinking about how you're supposed to not eat for a certain amount of time before a surgery, and whether they'd waive that in an emergency situation.

(Also, would that be something they'd just do automatically or would they need a medical proxy to ok the surgery first?)

Re: PSA: Wound care - Also can do some medical Q&A

[(Anonymous)]

(OP) If it were a true emergency, they would proceed with any necessary, live-saving procedure unless the medical proxy was already on hand to tell them otherwise.

The restriction on eating and drinking prior to anesthesia is primarily to limit the likelihood of vomiting and aspiration. The chance of aspiration is already quite low due to placement of an endotracheal tube to maintain the airway. I've even heard it joked that the restriction is still in place these days to save the time and hassle of cleaning up if a patient vomits, rather than a protection from complication. While that isn't completely true, I think it does serve to illustrate the reduced risk of that particular complication with today's protocols.

Note, just in case someone reads the above and decides not to heed their own doctor's advice: That isn't the case with food/drink restrictions before planned digestive-system procedures, where you want the stomach, intestines, and bowel to be as empty as possible for several reasons, including visibility and risk of contamination/infection.

Re: PSA: Wound care - Also can do some medical Q&A

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

What if they needed to do a sigmoid colostomy because of perforation?

Re: PSA: Wound care - Also can do some medical Q&A

[(Anonymous)]

(OP) A colon perf would be emergency surgery ASAP. Otherwise, you're letting bowel contents float around the abdominal cavity, and septic peritonitis is a bad way to go.