Even in his retirement, Tim Cooper feels the urge to inform patients and their family members on how to be prepared when facing surgery.
Working for years as an anesthesiologist, he gave two talks last year at the Lake Chapala Society — talks which he would like to repeat, since he believes it’s such an important topic.
“As a 70-year old man,” Cooper says, “I want to make sure I’m checked by an internist before going through any procedure, even minor, if anesthesia is required. Everyone needs to be prepared. It’s necessary for the physician/surgeon and the anesthesiologist to be aware of all of my conditions, and not just five minutes before administering the drugs.”
Cooper holds two specific views on anesthesiology. First, the anesthesiologist would see the patient before the procedure so that he/she understands everything that’s going to take place, make sure that the procedure is as safe as possible, and see that any medical problems are detected and managed effectively. Second, the anesthesiologist or representative would follow up with the patient after the procedure to determine if the experience was satisfactory and report any problems, including any complications with the anesthesia.
Medical career beckons
As a small child growing up in West Africa, Cooper has clear memories of perusing his father’s medical books on tropical diseases, filled with pictures of surgical procedures and native people with all kinds of maladies. These books enthralled the young boy. With a great love and admiration for his father – a British physician specializing in tropical diseases – it’s no wonder that Cooper also chose a career in medicine.
After getting his degree in medicine at the University of London, Cooper went into general practice in England but found it wasn’t challenging enough.
“I decided to immigrate to Canada because I believed that medical training there was better organized and more efficient to that in the U.K.”
While studying internal medicine in Canada, Cooper noticed how stressful it was for patients undergoing anesthetic procedures. It was then that he decided to study anesthesia to be more professionally challenged and to help create a more comfortable experience for patients.
British colonial service
Cooper was born outside of London by accident. “My parents were living in West Africa, on the Gold Coast. In those days, pregnant mothers of senior colonial service employees were often sent to the U.K. to be provided obstetric care. While my mother was in England and pregnant with me, she experienced a medical emergency. Consequently, I was born premature and was placed in an oxygen tent for six weeks, not expected to survive. It’s a miracle that I did.”
At age five, Cooper was sent to a boarding school in England, which was quite common for children of British colonial service employees. As a youth, he traveled from West Africa to England to attend school, and during his off-school time, he’d visit parts of Africa, as well as other countries. Thus began his love for travel.
Cooper’s observation of growing up on the Gold Coast was rather idyllic. “The 200 to 300 years when Britain had colonies in various countries gave the children of British colonial service employees opportunities to travel to different parts of the world and experience a variety of cultures and geography. I feel fortunate to have been one of those children.”
The Middle East
During the 1980s and 1990s, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia were determined to raise their level of medical care to a higher standard, on par with Western medicine. To do so, they brought in an experienced staff, usually trained in the United States, Canada and Europe. It was during that time that Cooper was hired as chief of anesthesia at a large hospital in Dubai.
“The American Hospital where I worked was the first hospital outside of the Americas to have the International Joint Commission accreditation from the United States,” says Cooper. “I insisted on creating an anesthesia assessment clinic where patients could be seen by an anesthesiologist prior to their surgery and be thoroughly prepared for their procedures. The difficulty was that this wasn’t funded. This is why, in places like Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, pre-anesthesia clinics are for very high-risk patients only. It’s all based on time and money.”
Observations
Something that Cooper observed during his medical practice was how the relationship between a person’s profession and their personality affects the pattern of that person’s performance.
“It’s the same in medicine as in any profession,” he says. “A doctor with a more aggressive personality will often suggest surgery; a more passive doctor will often suggest alternative therapies first.”
In his own practice, Cooper says he never faced any malpractice issues. “I think the reason for that is, if you prepare the patient and yourself well, complications are less likely to occur. I’m a very precautionary person and that’s what has directed me in my work.”
For more information, Cooper suggests researching websites such as the American Society of Anesthesiologists: asahq.org/Resources/For Patients.