Anaesthesia-related surgical mortality.

This is the report of the second of two studies conducted by the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland based on anonymous reports of deaths within 6 days of anaesthesia. One hundred and ninety-seven detailed reports were received during 1981; 43% were found by assessors to have nothing to do with anaesthesia, 41% to be partly due to, and 16% totally due to anaesthesia. These figures confirm earlier results reported by the same system. It is important to have the opinion of the two clinicians (anaesthetist and surgeon) separately and not to ignore either in a study which attempts to identify aspects of clinical medicine which might be improved.