OPERATION DEATHS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4955, 24 March 1926, Page 2

OPERATION DEATHS.

the ANAESTHETIC FACTOR.

NON-ALARMIST FIGURES.

The amount of notice that given —and rightly—to death under} anaesthetic may lead some people to conclude that this form of death is on the increase, but the annual of deaths in New Zealand for the last five years, as supplied by the Department of Health, do not support sucn a conclusion. The deaths under anaesthetics for ea.ch year are: 1921, 21; 1922, 22 ; 1923, 13 ; 1924, 25; 1925, 20. Excepting 1923, the IJgureS are remarkably even.

Analysing .the figures for 1925, the an aesthetics used are ap- follows; In 9 cases, chloroform and ether mixture ; in 7 cases, ether alone; in 3 cases, gas and oxygen; and in one case ethyl-chloride, followed by either. It would seem that, if an attempt is to be made to compare the relative results of each of.,the above anaesthetics; the total number of times each anaesthetic was used should come into the calculation. The percentage of deaths to the number df times each anaesthetic was used might be valuable;' also the percentage of total anaesthetic deaths to total anaesthetic operations.

Medical authorities hold that the public cannot be too conservative in submitting to operations.; and that a condition precedent (should be consultation of at least two medical practitioners, at least one of whom should be experienced. The factor of avoidability of operations seems to be at least a,s worthy of inquiry as the factor of anaesthetic risik.

Considering the increasing population, the five years’ figures indicate nd ground for alarm; and it is noteworthy that of the twenty deaths under anaesthetic in 1925', )jn eight instances. there were severe conditions that made the operation extremely dangerous, and which raise the question whether death was. due as much to the cause for which the operation was performed as to the anaesthetic.

Of the twenty deaths only two occurred in connection with teeth extraction in dental surgery.