As an anesthesiologist, I consider myself an expert on management of the airway. This statement in no way contradicts the fact that there certainly are other anesthesiologists who are more adept at certain airway skills than am I. Nevertheless, in the 28 years I have been studying anesthesiology, I have seen my fair share of airway adventures.
One of the first I recall occurred when I was an anesthesiology resident in Galveston, Texas. I was called to intubate a woman in her late 50s or early 60s. The woman’s medicine team called me, stating that she was in status asthmaticus. Upon my arrival, she was sitting straight up in bed, using all her accessory muscles of respiration, and her wheezing was audible throughout the room. It was my request that we move the patient to the MICU for the procedure. The team told me the patient could not be admitted...