There are generally quite clear
guidelines on the choice of anesthesia for every surgical procedure.
Some operations can be done totally under local anesthesia. Some
require general or regional anesthesia. Some are best done under
general or regional anesthesia, but may be done under local
anesthesia with parenteral analgesia if the patient is unfit for
general or regional anesthesia. The choice of the patient also needs
to be considered. If a patient demands a particular form of
anesthesia despite counseling by the anesthesiologist to the
contrary, it has to be given provided it is not contraindicated. Then
there is the government to be considered. For female sterilization
procedures, the government regulation is to administer only local
anesthesia. Only in teaching hospitals, a regional or general
anesthesia can be given, because there are doctors in training. Poor
patient has to suffer pain (the local anesthetic often proves to be
inadequate, we have seen) because the government feels so. Well, if
the government can decide what people can eat, what water people can
drink, at what age people can drink (not water), and at what age
people can have sex, why can the government not decide what
anesthesia can people have for undergoing a sterilization procedure?
