If you were in a car crash and had been eating all day, how is that different from a routine surgery where you weren’t allowed to eat for a certain amount of time before surgery?
Edit: based on some answers, perhaps I should clarify obviously I understand they have to perform surgery in an emergency. My question is more what do they do in an emergency when you haven’t fasted.
Thanks to those with real answers, I never knew about the special tube that could be used. That’s pretty cool.
I’m having surgery tomorrow and can’t eat so was just wondering how they handle food in the stomach during an emergency surgery situation.
In: 2585
You don’t eat before a scheduled surgery because if you do eat it’s possible that you’ll vomit during the operation. They’d rather not risk it. If you need emergency surgery, they’ll place a tube in your throat to protect you from vomiting into your lungs. Putting the tube in can cause problems on it’s own, so they’d rather not do it, but they will if they have to.
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