What are the mortality rates for general anesthesia?

What are the mortality rates for general anesthesia?

Samuel Seelig (Anesthesiologist, Los Angeles, California) gives expert video advice on: What are the risks of general anesthesia?; Is it true that some people remain aware during surgery, despite anesthesia?; What is the safest method of anesthesia? and more...

With the advent of the sophisticated monitoring techniques that we have, the pulse oximeter, the cathnographic measures, and titers CO2, the mortality rate for anesthesia has gone down significantly since the 1970's. In the 1970's the mortality rate was one in approximately 10,000, and it did not matter whether there was a general anesthetic or regional anesthetic. Presently the mortality rate is 5 to 6 per million which is can fused to about a 120 deaths per year in the United States because about 20 million anesthetics are done in the United States each year. The evidence that anesthesia has become safer is clear as our malpractice premiums have dropped from $56,000 a year to about $12,000 a year. And these have all been a function of the sophisticated monitoring devices that we use.