Expert: Dr Ian Jackson - please note UK based - 2/13/2009

Question
A very good friend of mine was in a car accident yesterday (february 11) and he suffered somme type of injury to one of his vertebrae in his upper back. That night he had surgery, which from what i heard was going to be very tedious , around 1 am  until 5 am. He has since not woken up from the anesthesia. What do you  think the chances of him waking up are? if a person doesnt wake up from anesthesia immediately, how long does it usually take them to wake up?

Answer
Hi there
This is probably more complex than just waking up from anaesthesia. With modern anaesthetic agents we can wake people up very quickly after operations i.e. within minutes no matter how long the operation is. If he was in an accident that damaged his back then it must have involved a fair bit of speed and so it would not only be his back that was affected. It is quite possible that the doctors are keeping him asleep for a period to protect his brain.
However all the above is purely speculation on my part. Basically you have to keep hoping that all will be well, maintain contact with his family and I hope that he makes a complete recovery.
Kind regards
Dr Ian Jackson