Traumatic Experience : Left in Agonizing Pain After Surgery

I want to share my horrifying experience with this clinic so that other patients know the truth. What happened to me here was not just negligence, it was a complete violation of patient rights, international medical standards, and basic human decency.

After my surgery, I woke up in excruciating pain because I was left without any pain management. The pain was so unbearable that I genuinely thought I was going to die there in that bed. I tried desperately to scream for help but I couldn’t because the breathing tube used during surgery had caused throat pain & temporary voice loss. My feet were strapped to the bed, so I could not get up to alert the nurses. And my only lifeline, the call button was broken. This meant I was completely abandoned in my bed, awake, in extreme pain, with no way to reach staff for urgent help. A broken call system in a surgical recovery area is a grave patient safety issue. Hospitals are obligated to test and guarantee that call systems function at all times.

For a prolonged period, I was left without any pain medication. Standard medical practice requires IV pain management immediately after surgery but Instead, I was left to suffer. When a nurse finally came much later, after I had vomited repeatedly I was only then given IV medication, which finally brought me some relief.

To make matters worse, staff were also smoking inside the hospital. The cigarette smoke, mixed with the nausea I already had from anesthesia, made me violently ill. I vomited over and over, and the doctor himself admitted the next day that the nurses had reported how much I vomited. Yet the true cause, staff were smoking inside the hospital!! Post-anesthesia nausea is already dangerous; smoke exposure made it far worse and directly triggered vomiting, which carries serious risks after surgery (aspiration, wound strain, dehydration).

This is not only about aesthetics. Patient safety and proper medical care cannot be overlooked under any circumstance. After invasive surgery, patients are always given pain medication immediately, even before waking up so they don’t suffer sudden, unbearable pain. Severe uncontrolled pain can cause shock, PTSD & emotional trauma, exactly what I am experiencing now. Allowing a patient to wake up in unbearable pain without pain control is a serious failure in duty of care.

What I went through was traumatic beyond words. To be conscious, in such agony, unable to get up, unable to call for help, and abandoned without care, is something I will never forget. It caused me severe physical suffering and deep psychological trauma.

When I later confronted the clinic about this, their response was dismissive and gaslighting. They told me that I imagined all of it because I was under the effects of anesthesia, that it was “impossible,” or that I “didn’t feel the full effect of the medication.” This is insulting and unacceptable. How could I have felt medication that I was never given? Pills cannot be taken at that stage, and I had no IV until much later. Their explanation makes no medical sense and only shows their refusal to take responsibility.

International medical standards that were violated in my case:
• Immediate post-operative pain management is required. I received none until much later.
• Functioning patient call systems must be available at all times. My call button was broken.
• Smoking is strictly prohibited inside hospitals. Yet staff smoked inside, directly harming my recovery.

All of these standards were ignored. Instead of taking responsibility, the clinic tried to dismiss my experience as “impossible” effectively gaslighting me after the severe trauma they caused.

I am writing this review because what happened to me should never happen to anyone else. Patients deserve safety, dignity, and proper care, not suffering, neglect, and denial.