by Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

According to the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, many different types of procedures may require a patient who is a child to stay still or may cause them discomfort if no anesthesia is used. For example, procedures such as MRI scans require the child to be completely still to ensure adequate quality of the scans. This is an addition to anesthesia used in surgery and common procedures, such as for fracture reduction, laceration repair, and incision and drainage of an abscess.

However, despite the widespread use of anesthesia in children, Gaspard Montandon, PhD (Parker B. Francis Fellow, Department of Physiology and Medicine, University of Toronto) says: Continue reading “Children at Heightened Risk of Respiratory Compromise” →