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Woman recalls 'nightmare' of waking up during surgery

Tony Fisher
BBC News, Buckinghamshire
Tony Fisher / BBC A woman with curly dyed pink hair and glasses wearing a pink roll neck jumper with a brooch sitting on sofa.Tony Fisher / BBC
Barbara said when her hair grew back after chemotherapy ahead of a stem cell transplant for blood cancer she dyed it pink and referred to it as her "chemo curls"

A woman who woke up during an operation after not receiving enough anaesthetic has described the experience as "frightening, scary and horrific".

Barbara Tite, 67, said the accidental awareness happened at Milton Keynes General Hospital in June 2024 when she had successful surgery for a perforated bowel.

She said it caused her continued undue stress and she was seeking compensation.

A spokesperson for Milton Keynes University Hospital said they were "very sorry" for the "distress" she experienced.

Mr Biz / Geograph The main entrance of Milton Keynes General Hospital with some yellow bollards in the foreground and a roundabout with a statue in the middle of it directly outside the entrance.Mr Biz / Geograph
A spokesperson for Milton Keynes University Hospital said they fully acknowledged how difficult this was for Mrs Tite

Mrs Tite recalled going in for the surgery and being sedated.

"Next thing I knew I was aware," she said. "It was anaesthesia awareness. You know what is going on around you but you are completely frozen."

She described the experience as like being "buried underground" and the "worst nightmare - the sort of thing horror movies are made of".

Mrs Tite said she managed to move her right hand to alert the doctors and they upped the anaesthetic.

FAMILY HANDOUT A woman with blonde hair smiling in a room with a picture on the wall in the background and a radiator.FAMILY HANDOUT
Mrs Tite, pictured before her cancer diagnosis, said that PTSD was the "monster which lurks in the wardrobe"

Mrs Tite was badly injured over 20 years ago in a head on crash on the A5 in Buckinghamshire involving another car which was being pursued by police.

In total, over the course of her life, she said she had more than 40 operations, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017, and "never had a moment where anything became a reality on the operating table".

She said the accidental awareness incident had brought on post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and she was seeking compensation as well as specialist help for the PTSD.

A spokesperson for Milton Keynes University Hospital said: "We are very sorry that Mrs Tite experienced distress when she was in our care last June. Every patient should feel safe when they are in our hospital.

"We believe that she experienced a sense of awareness as she was emerging from anaesthetic at the end of her operation, and fully acknowledge how difficult this was for her, especially in light of her past history.

"Acute providers, such as hospitals, do not offer the counselling that Mrs Tite seeks, and we have outlined how she can access this support.

"We are always here to discuss this matter further with Mrs Tite."

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