Why the study?
Although anaesthesia-related deaths are now rare, important findings can still be drawn to identify and analyse the causes of deaths related to anaesthesia alone over a 10-year period.
The majority of anaesthesia-related deaths in this German claims database were potentially avoidable, highlighting the need for strict adherence to routine guidelines and standards.
Analysis of rare anaesthesia deaths from claims data informs safety awareness; leaves open the need for prospective studies to guide prevention.
BACKGROUND Anaesthesiology is one of the safest fields in medicine today in relation to mortality. Deaths directly because of anaesthesia have fortunately now become rare exceptions. Nevertheless, important findings can still be drawn from the rare deaths that still occur. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify and analyse the causes of deaths related to anaesthesia alone over a 10-year period. DESIGN Retrospective structured analysis of a database of medical liability claims. SETTING Hospitals at all levels of care in Germany. PATIENTS The database of a large insurance broker included data for 81 413 completed liability claims over the 10-year period from 2006 to 2015. Among 1914 cases associated with anaesthetic procedures, 56 deaths were identified. Of these, 30 clearly involved anaesthesia (Edwards category 1) and were included in the evaluation. INTERVENTIONS None (retrospective database analysis). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Causes of anaesthesia-related death identified from medical records, court records, expert opinions and autopsy reports. RESULTS The 30 deaths were analysed in detail at the case and document level. They included high proportions of 'potentially avoidable' deaths, at 86.6%, and what are termed 'never events', at 66.7%. Problems with the airway were the cause in 40% and problems with correct monitoring in 20%. In addition, communication problems were identified as a 'human factor' in 50% of the cases. CONCLUSION The majority of the anaesthesia-related deaths investigated could very probably have been avoided with simple anaesthesiological measures if routine guidelines had been followed and current standards observed. Actions to be taken are inferred from these results, and recommendations are made. In future, greater care must be taken to ensure that the level of safety already achieved in anaesthesiology can be maintained despite demographic developments and increasing economic pressures.
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Koppenberg et al. (2022) studied this question.
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