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Family Claims Minister Killed Himself After Being Awake for 30 Minutes of Surgery.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In the last two weeks of his life, Sherman Sizemore felt like people were trying to bury him alive.
Now, more than a year later, members of his family say the horrifying experience of being conscious during surgery but unable to move or speak led directly to the Beckley minister's suicide — perhaps the first such case in the country.
Advocates say Sizemore's death should draw attention to a little-discussed phenomenon called anesthesia awareness that could happen to between 20,000 and 40,000 people a year in America.
In some instances, patients might be conscious for only a few seconds, but cases like Sizemore's, where people remain conscious for most of their surgery, can lead to post-traumatic stress, experts say.
"It's the first time I know of anyone succeeding in taking their own lives because of this, but suicidal thoughts are not all that uncommon," said Carol Weihrer, president of the Virginia-based Anesthesia Awareness Campaign, which she founded after her own experience with anesthesia awareness.
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