A CONSIDERATION OF SOME FACTORS CAUSING DEATH IN THE OPERATING ROOM

Some of the causes of deaths in the operating room are related to anesthesia. In some cases death occurs because of lack of understanding of certain factors which are subject to control by the surgeon or the anesthetist.Simple comparisons of the rate of deaths from such causes in one hospital with the rate in another are meaningless because of the many variables involved. A better avenue to the knowledge that may prevent untoward deaths is exposition of the causes in each case. By this means the causative factors may be fully disclosed, emphasized, and guarded against.In this presentation the author has classified the causes of 46 operating room deaths that occurred in the Los Angeles County General Hospital in a period of 21 months, and has discussed the causes individually.