Man reveals horror after waking on the operating table

Many people are admitted to hospital each year for operations, but one man in the UK has revealed his greatest fear came to light when he woke up on the operating table.

Fenn Settle appeared on British talk show This Morning earlier this week where he explained the horrifying ordeal to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. He detailed how he was admitted to hospital to have his appendix removed. Once he went under the anaesthetic, Settle quickly woke up, but was unable to move or alert staff to his condition.

He explained that prior to surgery, he had to fill out some paperwork detailing his height and weight, but that the hospital didn’t record the information correctly. He said he didn’t realise at the time and that he wasn’t asked for his weight or height by hospital staff at all prior to surgery.

Settle then explained the nightmare he endured.

“I had the injection, I had the mask on and went to sleep,” he told Willoughby and Schofield. “I came around feeling as though I had something stuck in my throat. I tried to swallow it and I couldn’t. I tried to spit it out and I couldn’t.”

He said it was at that point that he feared the worse and even thought he wasn’t going to see his family again. Settle was still groggy from the anaesthetic so didn’t initially know where he was, but was concerned about the tube stuck in his throat.

“My eyes were shut, I didn’t know what was going on,” he recalled.

He even tried to hold his breath so he would pass out, but it didn’t work. He could then hear beeping noises and talking, and soon realised that he was either in surgery or being prepped to go under the knife. He remembered feeling pressure in the area of his appendix, but didn’t feel any pain.

Settle tried everything in his power to capture the attention of hospital staff. He explained that he was trying to wiggle his fingers and hands, but that he was paralysed because of the anaesthetic. In the end, Settle had no choice but to wet himself.

“It was the only thing I could think of doing,” he said. As a result, staff injected him with more drugs which eventually knocked him out so they could continue the operation.

Following the operation, staff told Settle that he’d simply had a dream, while a doctor later told him that there was a possibility he may have woken up. For Settle, it’s had a major impact on his life. He told the show that he regularly has flashbacks to the incident and how a further operation for the removal of his wisdom teeth resulted in him experiencing a breakdown.

Settle eventually sought legal action which took almost two years to resolve. He said he was left feeling like he’d gone mad when the hospital should have come clean with their mistake straight away. Doctors maintained he may have woken up prior to surgery, but that he didn’t wake during the operation. 

The hospital involved issued a statement to This Morning, apologising for the incident and explaining that a full investigation occurred as a result.

What do you think? Has anything like this ever happened to you? Does this ever worry you when you go in for an operation?