The experienced doctors immediately identified the issue – surgeries involving anesthesia require pre-operative fasting because in an anesthetized state, protective throat reflexes are lost. If there's food and stomach acid present, these substances can easily reflux from the stomach to the throat and be aspirated into the trachea and lungs.
Leading to [reflux aspiration].
In such cases, this can cause infections at best, or at worst, solid food can block the airways leading to asphyxia and hypoxia; even worse, if stomach acid gets aspirated into the lungs, it can burn lung tissue causing chemical pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and so forth, with an extremely high mortality rate.
Not to mention, during pregnancy, the uterus itself compresses the digestive tract, increasing the chances of [reflux aspiration] compared to the average person, and the consequences are far more severe than usual.
