I have a pacemaker already more than 5 years. It recently moved out of place and I was operated Sunday to reimplant it in the right place. The operation was with local anesthesia and I lay on the operating table for 2 1/2 hours. This morning I was given an Aliysh and I said Birkat Hagomel. Someone walked up to me and seriously questioned my saying the Birkat Gagomel because I was operated without full anesthesia. (1) Is this correct? Does it mean that I made an Averah for not asking a Rabbi before? It didn’t occur to me that after such an operation there would be any question that it was up to me to thank Hashem for His mercy in helping me to go through this operation successfully.
Answer:
The HaGomel berachah does not depend on the nature of the anesthesia, but rather on the danger in which a person is placed.
I don’t know how dangerous the dislocation of the pacemaker is, but assuming that it involves some level of danger, the berachah is in place.
Like the berachah of Shehecheyanu and some other berachos, the berachah of HaGomel relates to the gratitude a person feels in his heart, and if you felt this gratitude to the point that you recited the berachah, it certainly seems that you acted correctly.
Best wishes.
