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.
Lisa, your son needs to have legal document that allows you to make medical decisions for him so you can act on his behalf. I suspect you need to discuss this with a lawyer As he's non verbal then I'm surprised this hasn't been addressed before.
Also, your son could be given a mild oral sedative before even leaving the house so he was relaxed, but you would want to check he responded to it normally, some neurodiverse individuals get hyped up on these drugs. Speaking to an anaethetist would help in this area.
Last of all, ask if it can be done in his GP surgery. Hospitals are a sensory nightmare and sometimes things like removing toenails can be done as outpatient procedures under sedation