The Daily – "When Anesthesia Fails and the Patient Is Cut Open"

Host: Rachel Abrams (The New York Times)
Guest: Susan Burton (Writer/Podcaster), Vanessa Lenner (Patient)
Date: February 6, 2026

Overview

In this powerful episode, "When Anesthesia Fails and the Patient Is Cut Open," Rachel Abrams interviews Susan Burton about her recent reporting on a deeply underreported crisis: a significant number of women experience severe pain during C-sections due to anesthesia failure, often being dismissed or disbelieved by medical staff. Susan’s reporting, informed by heartfelt stories and new research, exposes both the prevalence of this phenomenon and the culture of silence around women's pain during childbirth in the US.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How Susan Burton Began Reporting on Anesthesia Failure in C-Sections

• Origin of Reporting (01:54): Susan shares that her reporting roots back to a 2023 podcast series involving a nurse who stole fentanyl from a Yale fertility clinic, causing patients to experience procedures without pain relief.
• This prompted hundreds, mostly women, to email her about personal medical pain being dismissed, including one particularly disturbing account from a woman who "felt everything" during her C-section.

2. Prevalence and Recognition of the Problem

• A Major Surgery (03:10): C-sections are the most common surgery in the US—one in three women who give birth will have a C-section. Yet, the public, and often medical professionals, underestimate the seriousness and physicality of the operation.
• Pattern Recognition (03:35): Multiple women came forward with nearly identical stories: feeling the incision, organs being moved, burning pain—contradicted or minimized by providers.

3. Patient Testimony: Vanessa Lenner’s Story

• Vanessa’s Experience (05:23–14:48):
  • Vanessa, a well-informed physician assistant, describes being induced, getting an epidural that never really worked, and repeatedly telling nurses she could move her legs (an indication anesthesia might not be effective).
  • During the C-section, after minimal numbness test, the incision begins:

    "I remember, like, this intense, like, severe pain and screaming and telling them to stop. And the anesthesia guy was like, it's okay. It's just pressure." —Vanessa Lenner (10:06)

  • Vanessa’s husband walks in to see her writhing and screaming, with the team seemingly dismissing her pain as "just pressure."
  • Vanessa overhears the teaching of surgical steps while enduring agony, feeling both frightened and dismissed.
  • After surgery, the cumulative trauma results in shock, PTSD symptoms, flashbacks, and a lost sense of joy after childbirth:

    "You almost feel, too, that you've been robbed of an experience and completely out of your control." —Vanessa Lenner (12:27)

4. Aftermath, Silencing, and Medical Community Responses

• Vanessa’s Processing (12:55): Vanessa discusses disbelief, needing confirmation from her husband, and learning that many women share these traumatic experiences.
• The Cultural & Systemic Silence (14:48–16:00): Many mothers don't discuss such trauma, and the medical field often defaults to "that's just pressure," not pain.
• Doctor Perspectives (16:00–17:53):
  • Doctors, especially earlier in their careers, recount cases where patients experienced pain during surgery.
  • An ingrained acceptance lingers that C-section patients "will feel some sensation," leading to dismissal and underestimation of pain.

5. Power, Communication, and Systemic Barriers

• Power Dynamics (18:37–19:00):
  • Complex OR hierarchies can silence nurses and patients.
  • Patients, often in vulnerable situations, fear speaking up lest it slow surgery and risk the baby’s health.
• Why Does Anesthesia Fail? (19:12–19:43):
  • Technical explanations: misplaced epidural needles, moved catheters, and systemic failings—no single obvious fix.

6. Landmark New Research: Quantifying the Problem

• Major Study Details (20:51–24:09):
  • Large-scale, multi-hospital study (nearly 4,000 patients) finally asks women directly about their pain during C-sections.
  • Findings:
    • 8% experience "significant pain" (pain score of 6+/10), translating to over 100,000 women annually in the US.
    • Memorable Terms from Patients (word cloud): "searing, blinding, wretched, tearing, cramping, grueling, radiating, vicious cruelty, drilling, smarting." (22:41)
    • The method of anesthesia matters:
      • 13% of those with labor epidurals (common in emergency/unplanned C-sections) reported pain.
      • 4% of those with spinals (typical in scheduled C-sections) reported pain.

7. Solutions: Medical, Procedural, and Cultural

• Medical Fixes (25:15):
  • Lower threshold for replacing inadequate epidurals.
  • Reconsidering the aversion to general anesthesia when needed.
• Communication Fixes (26:09–26:47):
  • Systems that require doctors to regularly, actively check in with patients about pain during C-sections.
  • Supporting both patient advocacy and provider listening.

    "The solution is literally talk to the patients more." —Rachel Abrams (26:34)

• Deeper Cultural Questioning (27:03–29:11):
  • Why is suffering normalized for women during childbirth, especially surgical birth?
  • Societal expectation: "All that matters is a healthy baby," undercuts attention to mothers’ pain and perpetuates silence.

Memorable Quotes

"I wish I could pass out from the pain."
—Vanessa Lenner (04:41)

"You almost feel, too, that you've been robbed of an experience and completely out of your control."
—Vanessa Lenner (12:27)

"A mother will silence herself in the operating room, not speak up about her pain to protect her baby."
—Susan Burton (28:04)

"The solution is literally talk to the patients more."
—Rachel Abrams (26:34)

"Has this assumption that women will suffer during childbirth allowed us to rationalize the pain of C sections? And when I say this, I actually don't just mean doctors, right. I mean patients, too. It's what might convince a patient that, I guess this is just what women go through."
—Susan Burton (27:43)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:54] – Susan Burton describes how she began reporting on women’s pain in medicine
• [03:35] – Multiple women recount feeling their C-section incisions despite anesthesia
• [05:23] – Introduction to Vanessa Lenner and her detailed C-section story
• [10:06] – Vanessa screams in pain, is told it's "just pressure"
• [12:27] – Vanessa describes feeling robbed of joyful birth experience
• [13:20] – The aftermath: PTSD symptoms and altered family plans
• [16:00] – Doctors reflect on witnessing pain, and systemic issues
• [20:51] – Major new study details: 8% of C-section patients endure significant pain
• [22:41] – Patients’ words for pain: the word cloud
• [24:09] – Anesthetic method matters: labor epidural vs. spinal block
• [26:34] – Communication solutions: active questioning of patient pain during procedures
• [27:43] – Norms and silencing around women’s suffering in childbirth

Conclusion

This episode draws a stark and sobering picture: despite modern medicine’s advances, a substantial number of women endure severe, preventable pain during C-sections. Lack of acknowledgment—from both providers and a broader culture that expects women to suffer in silence—compounds the physical trauma. New research is finally quantifying the problem, and solutions—both medical and cultural—are on the horizon, starting with the simplest: truly listening to women when they say, "I am in pain."