The most feared medical specialty? It’s actually one of the safest.

A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com. I often hear patients say, “I am not afraid of the surgery, just the anesthesia.” But should patients worry?   Physician anesthesiologists suffered a crisis in confidence in 1982 when the ABC television program 20/20 aired, “The Deep Sleep:  6,000 Will Die or Suffer Brain Damage,” about anesthesia complications, brain injury, and death.  At that time, physician anesthesiologists were having difficulty obtaining malpractice insurance because, although anesthesia claims were not the most frequent, they were the most costly due to outcomes associated with medical errors.  Very often the error was an unrecognized esophageal intubation, where the breathing tube was putting oxygen in the stomach instead of the lungs.  Estimates of mortality caused solely by anesthesia care ranged from 1 to 12 per 10,000. At that time, ASA First Vice President Ellison C. “Jeep” Pierce, M.D., looked at the crisis and had a choice: fight for tort reform so insurance payouts and malpractice insurance costs would be decreased, making malpractice insurance more widely available, or increase the safety of anesthesia .  Dr. Pierce decided to establish a new ASA committee, the Committee on Patient Safety and Risk Management, which was the first time “patient safety” was used in this context. Additionally, ASA, under his leadership, formed the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) and started...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Physician Surgery Source Type: blogs