Anesthesia

WebDonuts – By Mike Gruhn – http://www.webdonuts.com

WebDonuts – By Mike Gruhn – http://www.webdonuts.com

Transcript

  • Anesthetist: Count backwards from 100 and tell me when you can no longer feel your wallet.

Vocabulary

  • Anesthetist (n.) /əˈniːs.θə.tɪst/ a doctor who gives anaesthetic to people in hospital.
  • Anesthesia (n.) /ˌæn.əsˈθiː.zi.ə/ before an operation, the patients are put to sleep. This is called anesthesia (= a state in which you do not feel pain, usually because of drugs you have been given).
  • Backwards (adv.) /ˈbæk.wədz/ the opposite of forwards; in the direction that is opposite to what is expected.
  • Wallet (n.) /ˈwɒl.ɪt/ a small case for carrying paper money, credit cards, etc., used especially by men. Here, it basically means money.

Context

  • Anesthetists usually ask patients to start counting when they are about to put them to sleep. Generally, the patients are asleep after a few seconds. The fact that this patient is asked to count from 100 may indicate that this will be a long and painful process.
  • This comic strip criticizes the fact that having an operation in a hospital in certain countries like the United-States costs a lot of money for the patient. “When you can no longer feel your wallet” = “when we have taken all your money!”

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