Thank You, Doctor

Now that's no mere inconvenience. It represents a dire threat. Of course it is not all anesthesiologists who are afflicted by a drug dependency. It is estimated that approximately 20% are. Although, as a cautionary note, that number would represent those who have been discovered, those who have admitted their problem and who seek assistance, and not those who are clever enough to keep their problem under wraps.

Their problem, not ours. Society is replete at every level, in every profession, in every age group and gender, with people unfortunate enough to have fallen under the influence of drugs, so their lives have become horribly complicated. But, in this particular instance, as in so many others, our lives too become potentially impacted/complicated by the incidence of drug addiction among health professionals.

It is by no means only anesthesiologists who become addicted to drugs, but also doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, you name it. Their numbers are far lower than among anesthesiologists. They are no different than the mainstream of society in that respect among whom a certain percentage of the population becomes drug-dependent. That dependency, of course, impacts on their professional lives, equally with their personal lives.

But it is, by and large, the impact on their professional lives that concerns greater society. That would be the greater society that depends upon health professionals in a professional health setting. Like a hospital, and more specifically an operating room. That person for whom surgery has been scheduled and is dependent on the full and expert attention of a health professional to see them through to a successful conclusion, for example.

If the anesthesiologist in the operating theatre happens to be high on drugs while he is engaged in very sensitive, vital procedures to ensure a patient undergoing surgery is breathing properly and all vital signs are acceptable, clearly his professionalism is impacted. There have been occasions when such medical professionals have been found dead of an overdose in bathrooms adjoining operating theatres.

Evidently, drug-addicted anesthesiologists are prone to extracting some of the drugs meant for the patient, to use them personally at the earliest opportunity, to maintain themselves in good fettle. Of course, eventually one's condition deteriorates to the point where it becomes evident to others that something is dreadfully wrong. But not always.

And that gives us a good deal to be concerned about. After all, it is the work of that particular health professional to ensure that the patient comes out of surgery alive. Maintaining ventilation, oxygen levels, that blood pressure remains constant throughout surgery. Those little details which are quite significant.

Much depends on it.