If it is a medical emergency then things move very rapidly and it may be difficult to keep family members in the loop, especially if they are not right there at the time the decision is taken that this is now an emergency and we need to act now. The patient themselves may have given some consent and may have given history if it was possible but may not remember afterwards, since it is a very confusing and frightening time for the patient as well.
I happened to call to see my brother in hospital one Saturday a few years ago, just as he was about to have a consultation with the doctor, so I was right there when the doctor decided that this needed an immediate operation. He spoke to my brother and told him what he planned to do, and why it was urgent. He then raced off to organise the theater which I assume needed other doctors and nurses as well. His registrar then arrived and started doing all the pre-op paperwork and then the surgeon came back to say everything was organised and he would see my brother in the operating room. It was all very quick and urgent. I don't recall he specifically asked my brother for consent, but he was very clear on the need for the operation and why it was so urgent. He did acknowledge my presence and checked what relation I was to my brother, but made no attempts to contact next of kin. Perhaps the registrar got my brother to sign the consent, but it all moved rapidly and the doctor was fully focused on his patient and the medical need of the patient rather than anything else. I was the one phoning my sister in law keeping her up to date on the situation, but if I hadn't been there just at that moment she would never have known until it was all over.
Whether it is one type of operation or another, if there is a choice, would probably not have been made until the patient was in the operating room and then the choice would be down to timing, how rapidly the patient was going downhill, and what would give the fastest, safest outcome for the patient.
I hope your wife makes a rapid recovery.