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July 13

Amputation without general anaesthetic

In David Lange I read : On 2 August, he had his lower right leg amputated without a general anaesthetic, as a result of diabetes complications.

I'm not sure of the parsing. I understand that limb loss is a risk with diabetes, but are they saying his diabetes made it impossible or ill-advised for him to have a general anaesthetic for the operation? Is this a common circumstance, and what do they do to reduce the patient's pain? Local anesthetic? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:32, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

All the answers seem to be in the cited source: "Mr Lange's poor health precluded general anaesthesia. Amputations without it were 'very, very rare' " and "he was sedated and given nerve blockers so he would feel no pain when his lower leg, the foot gangrenous as a result of diabetes, was removed below the knee." Meters (talk) 02:38, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Better that than how they used to do amputations. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:05, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 05:10, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nowadays the leg would be anaesthetised by an epidural injection. I know someone who had a hip replacement operation with an epidural anaesthesia and stayed awake throughout the op. No pain whatsoever was felt Richard Avery (talk) 09:48, 18 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]