My mom's husband was hit by a bus in 1986. Getting hit by the bus + all the surgeries to repair him pretty much destroyed his short term memory. His long term memory was screwed up for a while and there are things from the past he just plain doesn't remember but most of the lasting effects all have to do with his short term memory. (He also lost his sense of smell/taste.)

Says it happened over a decade ago. Weird.

'Milk of Amnesia'

His long term memory was screwed up for a while and there are things from the past he just plain doesn't remember but most of the lasting effects all have to do with his short term memory.

Sounds very similar to the way Richard Hammond described his famous recovery. Oh, and he likes celery now.

On December 22, 2006 Hammond made his first television appearance since the crash on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross,[34] in which he said that since the crash he has gained a better memory, particularly with regard to telephone numbers, and a new found liking for celery. He is, however, somewhat irritated by the fact that he has been forbidden to drink any serious quantity of alcohol for a period of two years, being restricted to, at most, two pints of weak lager. Hammond revealed that he has a pact with his co-presenters that, should one of them die in an accident, the following edition of Top Gear would open with the remaining two presenters solemnly mentioning the death and then remaining silent for a moment. They would then start a new sentence, in which the first word would be 'Anyway' and continue to happily report about cars. (This pact had previously been disclosed in Jeremy Clarkson's column in The Sun on September 23, 2006). He also described the first time his children came to see him in hospital where, in a confused state, he proceeded to take off his bandages and show his gruesome eye injury to his daughters.

I'll say "Holy Crap" over the ethical implications, then. The patient asked repeatedly not to be put under. He can talk all he want about "the trenches", but that doesn't make it OK to violate her express wishes.

And I'll ditto muddgirl. I have a serious doctor phobia SPECIFICALLY about losing control / having my orders violated. The only thing that keeps me moderately sane about going to see a doctor is the knowledge that I'm an adult and there are limits to what they can do if I refuse consent.

That's a horrible thing to do to someone. It's a horrible violation of their *personhood*, of their directives. And knowing that they won't even REMEMBER that you did it in the first place...jesus. This makes me feel sick.