Can General Anesthesia Kill You?

Severe drop in blood oxygen levels: Anesthesia can have adverse effects if administered improperly, which can kill the patient, cause serious brain damage, damage vital tissues, and do other serious harm.

Can you die from general anesthesia?

The risk of dying in the operating theatre under anaesthetic is extremely small. For a healthy person having planned surgery, around 1 person may die for every 100,000 general anaesthetics given. Brain damage as a result of having an anaesthetic is so rare that the risk has not been put into numbers.

What are the chances of dying under anesthesia?

The risk of death solely attributable to anesthesia is approximately 1 in 185,000 according to anesthesia textbooks. However, looking at a large study that reviewed nearly 2.9 million people that had general anesthesia, the death rate was around 33 per 100,000 people, or equivalent to 3.3 in 10,000.