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If you wish to respond to a paper or other item already published in the BJA, please go to the abstract/full text version of that item and click on the link "E-Letters: Submit a response to the article".

Electronic Letters to:

Review Articles:
A. R. Aitkenhead
Injuries associated with anaesthesia. A global perspective
Br. J. Anaesth. 2005; 95: 95-109 [Full text] [PDF]
*E-letters: Submit a response to this article

Electronic letters published:

[Read E-letter] Anaesthetic Errors, Australia, 2005
John S Wright   (11 December 2008)

Anaesthetic Errors, Australia, 2005 11 December 2008
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John S Wright,
retired surgeon

Send letter to journal:
Re: Anaesthetic Errors, Australia, 2005

In 2005, according to The Sydney Morning Herald health writer and a leading medical indemnifier, the following was the situation:

1. In New South Wales, for deaths to be attributed to anaesthesia, they must occur within 24 hours of its commencement. This definition has been repeatedly questioned for being "protective" of anaesthetists at the expense of others.

2. One in three anaesthetists in Australia has a "significant mishap" every year. Of those, one in five leads to litigation.

3. Such mishaps affect anaesthetists three times as often as any other doctor.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared