Recovery of one physiological function need not coincide with recovery of another.
A mouse study evaluated external warming after medetomidine–midazolam–butorphanol anesthesia. Its findings supported prolonged thermal assistance under the experimental conditions to reduce postanesthetic hypothermia.
The regimen was a combination, and small-rodent heat loss differs substantially from human physiology. The study does not isolate midazolam or define a human warming duration. An animal appearing awake is not a complete physiological assessment.
Track temperature and recovery observations separately. In a case involving multiple anesthetic agents, delayed temperature recovery cannot be attributed to one ingredient without additional evidence. The source illustrates why discharge or recovery criteria should not be inferred from a single behavioral sign.
Source: PMC7804034, supplied full-text paper. Findings are paraphrased; forensic implications are an interpretation.
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