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    Perioperative professionals need to be prepared to handle emergencies. While rare conditions like malignant hyperthermia may not be a risk that perioperative and perianesthesia nurses are necessarily looking for, experts say it should be.

    The death of an eighteen year old Stephanie Kuleba on March 22,2008 is a perfect example.
    No one suspected that Stephanie was anything but a healthy young lady when she went for cosmetic surgery in an Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC). More than an hour into the surgery, her anesthesiologist noticed signs of a rare condition triggered by anesthesia. Dantrolene and other measures were instituted, Stephanie was transferred to an acute care facility where she was pronounced dead a few hours later.  Questions have been raised by the media and the authorities about the dosage and timeliness of the interventions used to resuscitate Stephanie.

     It is therefore incumbent upon us, the trusted healthcare providers, to be ready and able, to provide the best possible care in “rare event” conditions like Malignant Hyperthermia.

          Stepanie Jude Kuleba

Undiagnosed MH susceptible individual–  died 3/22/08  from 
    Malignant Hyperthermia.
www.stephaniejudekuleba.org/

Website by A. MadeupRN & I. Missedit RN 7/2008

emailme: apazc3@yahoo.com