Savannah, Hinesville & Surrounding Areas

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TELEPHONE: (904) 398-8005
TOLL-FREE: (800) 733-7993

3599 University Boulevard South, Building #1200, Jacksonville, Florida 32216

Telephone: (904) 398-8005

Toll-Free: (800) 733-7993

Recorded Info: (904) 399-4804

Florida Women's Center, Inc. - Dr. Patrick Kelly
Dr. Patrick Kelly
Florida Women's Center, Inc. - Dr. Patrick Kelly

Professional Abortion Services and
        Gynecology Care in Jacksonville, Florida

Tallahassee Abortion Clinics, Albany Abortion Clinics, Valdosta & Surrounding Areas

Daytona, Palm Coast, St. Augustine & Surrounding Areas

Florida Women's Center, Inc. - Patrick KellyNARAL Pro-Choice America

NARAL protects and fights for continued women's rights. Your support and awareness are crucial to women's ability to continue to have safe and accessible women's health care services.

For information on pro-choice legislation and issues, please visit NARAL at www.prochoiceamerica.org

Anesthesia Options

Approximately a decade ago, effective anesthesia became an indispensable part of providing modern abortion care.  Experienced professional doctors who provided abortions as part of their medical care quickly came to the conclusion that effective IV anesthesia was the modern responsible choice for patients who were facing the option of undergoing a surgical abortion.  

Caring doctors always want their patients to be comfortable and IV anesthesia was needed as part of the abortion procedures.  Unfortunately, even these days due to many abortion clinics not being run or operated by actual doctors, anesthesia options still vary widely from facility to facility, often depending on the level care being offered or available in the area you live.  In large cities like Jacksonville or Miami, the option of anesthesia is a standard part of the modern available abortion procedures.  
 
Even now, due to the varied level of ownership and physician qualifications, anesthesia options being used in abortion clinics are still definitely not the same.  They may often be chosen based potentially on cost as decided by the business owner, the physician, or even the patient if anesthesia is charged separately.  These choices by the clinics and doctors who may not have adequate experience providing anesthesia may depend on the level of skill and comfort required to being able to use these anesthesia medicines safely.  If the clinic does not have a qualified physician or facility with proper monitoring and staff, they may not even offer anesthesia or may just provide nitrous oxide gas.  The best medicines, which provide the greatest amount of reliable comfort and safety, require a heightened level of training, experience, and skill.  In clinics which offer menu type options, the effectiveness and comfort level will differ depending on which anesthesia method is available in the facility you have chosen.

"One of the most common questions patients have is
"Will the abortion procedure be painful?"
 
In modern facilities like ours, while the choice to have Nitrous oxide alone may be available, 99% of patients choose the recommendation of their physician to be sedated with IV medications to not only ensure they are comfortable but also to increase the safety of the procedure itself.It is unfortunate that many abortion clinics still do not offer truly effective anesthesia for patients to assure their comfort during this surgical procedure.  If you are misled into believing that nitrous oxide or valium will provide reliably effective pain management during a surgery, you may find yourself in the middle of a painful abortion procedure before you realize that nitrous oxide gas as a stand alone method of pain control is not a reliably effective method of anesthesia for surgery.  While there are definitely women who can tolerate the discomfort of a D and E (abortion procedure) by using Nitrous gas alone, these patients must be carefully selected.  
In modern facilities like ours, while the choice to have Nitrous oxide alone may be available, 99% of patients choose the recommendation of their physician to be sedated with IV medications to not only ensure they are comfortable but also to increase the safety of the procedure itself. 
Oral valiums and nitrous oxide gas are actually just pre-operative medications at most, like what you would get at the dentist to assist in the numbing of your teeth. 
These medications are really designed to be used to assist with anxiety.  As a matter of fact, valium has very little place in the field of anesthesia at all, and is actually a pill designed to be given for non-surgically related anxiety relief on an outpatient basis.  As there are still a few isolated non-physician owned abortion clinics that either do not offer, or are unable to offer truly effective anesthesia at all, if you are seeking an abortion procedure, make sure you ask if they will provide effective IV sedation.  While there are some women, based on certain factors, that can actually tolerate this procedure without anesthesia or with Nitrous gas only, this is really the main reason the abortion procedure had developed a reputation of often being such a "painful" and even sometimes intolerable experience. 
At Florida Women's Center, Our doctors know it is never appropriate to have a patient who is in pain during a surgical procedure, and we provide effective anesthesia designed by a physician who has actual formal training in the field of anesthesiology.  As with all of our care, we provide what is right for each individual patient, and we know that every patient is different and needs personal care.
 
Fortunately, over the past several years, in large part due to the abilities and experience of physicians such as Dr. Kelly who has both training in Gynecology as well as training in Anesthesiology, total care physician operated facilities like Florida Women's Center in Jacksonville, Florida have developed protocols to provide all women with the option to receive complete comfort by the safe administration of IV anesthetics during the surgical abortion procedure.  The abortion procedure has changed over the last ten years and this is the modern way that abortions are now performed.  This is the way patients should be cared for during this emotional time.  The availability of IV anesthesia is now the standard of care for modern abortion procedures.


Modern medical facilities and experienced physicians have available very safe and effective combinations of IV anesthesia, which now can assue you of the comfort you expect when undergoing any surgical proceedure. Florida Women's Center is one of Florida's leading facilities providing safe and effective anesthesia options for patients undergoing the abortion procedure.
 
As approximately 99% of patients treated by experienced doctors for an abortion are now provided with effective and safe IV anesthesia, the pain of an abortion procedure has virtually been eliminated.  This is a remarkable accomplishment and our facility is primarily responsible for this change.  This anesthesia should be chosen by a qualified physician to make you comfortable, and the choice of receiving anesthesia should not based on whether you can pay for it at this important and sometimes emotional time.  Without appropriate anesthesia, many women are simply unable to tolerate the discomfort and awareness of the surgical abortion procedure. Inadequately sedated patients have increased risks of complications if they are unable to tolerate the surgical procedure because patients would have a difficult time being still during the surgery. Appropriate IV anesthesia has been found to significantly improve the patient emotional experience, outcome, and even surgical safety of the surgical abortion procedure.  A modern abortion procedure is now a "painless" and comfortable surgical procedure.
 
At Florida Women's Center, we provide patients with some of the most effective and safe IV sedation in our field of medicine, which allows our patients to transition through their visit and surgical procedure comfortably. Accordingly, all patients must not eat or drink four-six hours before their appointment. You will be provided snacks and drinks in the recovery area after your procedure is completed. Every patient should also have a designated driver to assure a safe trip home.