Happened to my sister recently. She was having surgery on her leg after a bad break. They were using propofol.

During the surgery the anesthesiologist noticed something not working quite right so he stopped it for about 45 seconds to make things better. Sis woke up to them pulling and twisting her broken leg prior to making an incision. She said it was brutal. She also woke up a bit later and started laughing during the surgery, but she does not remember that at all thankfully.

Anesthesiologist said she simply metastasized the propofol as fast as anyone he’s ever seen. Said for 99%+ of the population 45 seconds without the propofol is nothing. FYI this is in a top rated Boston hospital with amazing track records.

The surgeon and anesthesiologist, along with the head of anesthesia, visited her together the next day to talk about what happened. They were very apologetic and explained to her what had happened. I imagine this was a bit of litigation avoidance on their part. But my sister is an RN and explained how she got it. She even recalled a prior surgery where she woke up momentarily, but never really thought about it.

She said the pain was indescribable when she woke. Thankfully the team reacted quickly and put her back under.