Published on 12, July, 2020
Dear all,My Son George is 17, severely autistic, non-verbal and with oral and nasal sensitivities.He needs an operation to remove his toenail, when we went into hospital we had a terrible time. He refused to take a pre-med due to its smell and taste, the medical staff tried to restrain him and administer this through a syringe. He is 6ft + and is 17 stone, so through his panic, we couldn't manage to restrain him. They then tried gas, but George refused to have the mask over his face and became very distressed off the back of multiple failed attempts. In the end, we had to abandon the procedure and is now traumatised and obessesively re-living the event. He definitely needs the operation, so I need advice from anybody who's been through this.Thanks, Lisa.
Hi
We have been in a very similar situation with our 19 yr old severely autistic son who couldn't cope in this situation.I made some enquiries and was told to ask for the lead nurse in learning disabilities at the hospital,which I did.she was fab couldn't do enough, her job was to help families like ours through this tough time. So I strongly advise you to contact the hospital and ask to be put in contact with the disability nurse.
Best wishes
I agree with this advice. It doesn't sound like there is an issue with legal consent and I don't think that you can overcome these issues with force. I think that he needs to be told that the procedure may hurt but that he can get through it. He may well have sensory issues that mean that it will hurt him more than it would hurt most other people. He will also not be able to rationalise away his rational fear of needles etc.
Perhaps he could have a specialist nurse visit him at his home where he can experience an injection (just saline) on its own and learn to manage each of the issues step by step. He shouldn't be told that it won't hurt because that is not what he will experience. He should be told and be reassured afterwards that it will all be over and that it will stop when it is done.