Doctor was comforting a patient in his 80s before heart surgery — but the ‘bigger problem’ keeping him up at night caught her off guard
Medical procedures can be nerve-racking, especially for older patients and those having serious cardiac surgeries. But one doctor quickly realized her elderly patient's worries had very little to do with the treatment. Harvard Trained Board Certified Anesthesiologist Maleeha Mohiuddin, MD, who posts on Instagram as @dr.maleeha.mohiuddin, shared the unexpected encounter on August 5, 2026, describing how she was preparing an elderly man in his 80s for general anesthesia consent ahead of a cardiac ablation procedure when the conversation took a surprising turn.
Mohiuddin said she was standing beside the stretcher, preparing to take general anesthesia consent from the man, who was in his 80s and was about to undergo a cardiac ablation for an arrhythmia. He looked nervous, so she tried to comfort him. But instead of asking about the procedure, the man told her, “Hey, doctor, I have a bigger problem right now, and I need your help with this.” When the anesthesiologist asked what was wrong, he pointed to her clipboard, where he noticed two women's names. He mentioned that one of them was upstairs in his room waiting for him, while the other had flown in from Florida and was in the waiting room. "They don't know about each other, and I need you to ensure they don't cross paths," he said.
The man seemed uneasy, which she considered completely normal for someone in their 80s before a serious surgery. She assured him that she would be with him the entire time, and he had nothing to worry about. But instead of inquiring about the procedure, he shared the unexpected fear. As the doctor put it, “He really wasn't worried about the anesthesia. He was worried about logistics while he was asleep." Just like she expected her elderly patient to be worried about anesthesia, research suggests patients can have a wide range of concerns before operations. A 2018 study published in the National Library of Medicine of older adults preparing for general anesthesia found that their worries included losing control of their bodies, being in an unfamiliar environment, experiencing pain, and uncertainty about what might go wrong.
The findings highlight why conversations with patients before such preoperative procedures can reveal concerns that may not be obvious at first. The man's unexpected confession left Mohiuddin amused. She said that she almost admired the man's attitude, joking, “heartbeat da**ed, he's living his life to the fullest." In a comment, she added, "It’s always the geriatric patients who have me speechless." Commenters were just as entertained. @salmamasala said, "What a player," to which the doctor replied, "This guy had more game than all of us combined." @shortbaty sarcastically added, "'That’s above my pay grade, sir.'"
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