Let's all be clear about something: the discogram is a procedure that REQUIRES the patient be awake, at least for the part where they pressurize the disc. He has to be able to tell the docs what the pain feels like.
That's the whole point.
If the pressure on the disc replicates the pain the patient is having, it suggests what needs to be done to help solve the pain problem. While I admit it's a rather barbaric and probably cruel procedure in some instances (and often of very limited diagnostic benefit), it's a diagnostic procedure that was proposed to and understood by the patient.
Just in case anyone isn't clear about this, nobody "woke up unexpectedly". This wasn't an operation, more like an epidural injection like they give women in labor.
Part of the problem I'm sure, is that waking from sedation is a totally wierd experience, especially from something like propofol, which really wigs people out sometimes. You can be really disoriented, disinhibited, and without any of your usual psyhcological defenses to process the barrage of inputs.
Coming awake only to experience intense pain can't be any fun.
It does explain the dolls, though...