Do herbal supplements create unnecessary risk for patients?

Abstract

As the resident anesthesiologist preparing for a scheduled total thyroidectomy on a Friday morning, I hurried into the preoperative ward to assess my patient. We were already behind on the day, and a palpable angst hung thick in the operating room (OR) as we headed into a holiday weekend. I ran through the patient’s medications with her at the bedside. Her past medical history included coronary artery disease with a bare metal stent (BMS) placed a little over a year ago. She assured me that, as instructed, she hadn’t taken her aspirin or clopidogrel for 7 days. When she reached into her purse for the slip of paper with her medication timetable, I noticed a green prescription bottle with what appeared to be tables of indications, adverse reactions and the like listed upon it.