flamingsword | In memory of Douglas Schepker, dead of knee surgery. (Reply)

If you or someone you know has had a drug or alcohol problem, now or at any time in the past, please take this opportunity to remind them that it is vital to tell their doctors. The aftereffects of overuse of any substance, including prescription medicines, can last the rest of your life. They overtax the heart, liver, kidneys, and the circulatory system of the brain. The damage done to these systems makes even routine medical procedures potentially fatal. When you have a condition that your doctors do not know about, they don't take the extra precautions that would prevent you from dying due to complications that they would otherwise have foreseen. The anaesthesia used in routine knee surgery can kill you if you keep secrets like that from your doctors.

Telling your doctors about your past drug or alcohol abuse keeps you alive.

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