This is really a horrible story, and one that apparently is not as uncommon as I thought it was, after reading the article on this unfortunate (understated) situation.  A baptist minister actually went in for exploratory surgery in his abdomen, to investigate some abdominal pains he’d been complaining of for a while, and it ended up being related to his gallbladder. 

The problem is, he actually was not adequately anesthetized, and because of this, his family claims in the lawsuit filed against the anesthesiologist group, he suffered excruciating pain and was unable to move, tell anyone or cry out in pain, but was instead paralyzed by the paralysis drugs they had given him to prevent spasming which could interfere with the exploratory surgery.

The poor man was actually haunted by the experience, and the lawsuit further alleges that because he was not told by the hospital that the anesthesia was not administered until well into the surgery, he doubted his own sanity and thought maybe his memories of the terrifying experience were all “in his head”. 

As horrible as all of that is, the man ended up committing suicide about two weeks after the whole incident, killing himself with a shotgun wound.  The family claims the minister had no history of mental illness or suicidal tendencies, and that his suicide was directly caused by his horrifying experience of being conscious during the surgery.

I really hope the family gets what they deserve, this truly sounds like a malpractice case that deserves to be won.