Dr. Nazia Rahman Choudhury, MD

Had shoulder surgery, Dr. Choudhury was the anesthesiologist. She managed to miss nerve-blocking the nerve to my shoulder and instead also nerve-blocked half my diaphragm. Ultrasound-imaging guidance of the needle placement is supposed to prevent this. I woke up from the operation in an oxygen mask and having difficulty getting enough air. And the sides of my neck were gouged up. Nursing staff told me that Dr. Choudhury had to grab my head below the jaw and pull up on my head to straighten my airway during the operation since I was not breathing properly; good idea, except if you are going to have to do that occasionally, you should not have long fingernails. Long, beautiful fingernails, bloody patient neck. Separate issue: one of my eyeballs was dried up, non-functional and painful. Apparently that eye was left open during the operation; the anesthesiologist should make sure that the patient's eyes are closed or otherwise protected. I was discharged from Sutter in that condition, got… home some distance from help, started to be unable to breathe, went rushing to the ER. Probably the worst day of my life. Learnings: 1) The surgeon is important. The anesthesiologist is more important. 2) If your anesthesiologist got their degree at a low-performing medical school in the Caribbean, you might see a few more mistakes than would otherwise be the case. You probably get the anesthesiologist who is assigned to your procedure, but if you have a choice, look elsewhere.

Dr Choudhury was the anesthesiologist that was caring for me during my recent total hip replacement surgery. I think that she is partly responsible for the great way the surgery came out. I experienced virtually no nausea after I woke up and my pain level after surgery was very low , I think, due to the types of anesthetics she used during the surgery.