Q: I read somewhere that a doctor gave a patient an IV General Anaesthesia (? Endotheline or some name similar to this) which resulted in death on the table. My friend is due for an operation and I want to kinow how safe is IV general anaesthesia? Which medicines are safe and what precautions should we take?

A:First thing I would like to clarify is that there is no term called “IV General Anaesthesia” or “endotheline”. It is general anaesthesia in which IV drugs are being given. Secondly, death on the table - this can be due to: i) patients factors (patient’s illness like cardiac disease, high blood pressure, endocrine disease etc.) ii) Surgical reasons – e.g. due to excessive bleeding which is uncontrolled iii) Equipments failure – eg. Stoppage of oxygen or ventilator failure iv) Human error – unable to detect any abnormal happening, drugs overdosage etc. Any drug used in clinical medicine has got its clinical efficacy with its side effects. Doctors use it carefully and according to the patient’s requirement. General Anaesthesia is safe now a days. All anaesthetists take enough precautions and care to make the patient safe during surgery.