The Nation - News from Dec. 14, 1986

Malpractice or mistakes by doctors cause as many as 75% of the 2,000 or more anesthesiology-related deaths in the United States each year, anesthesiologists reported in New York. New monitoring equipment, however, could virtually eliminate within two years anesthesiology-related catastrophes that can cause severe brain damage and death, a doctor said. Ronald Katz, chairman of UCLA’s department of anesthesia, said that failure to keep the patients’ airway open is among the most important causes of severe brain damage and death. Doctors noted that deaths caused by anesthesia occur only once or twice in every 10,000 uses.