When Non-anesthesiologists administer "Conscious Sedation", there are inherently more risks to the patients. This is one example. Many Insurance companies will pay for an anesthesiologist for even screening colonoscopies, and those that don't should be urged strongly to do so.

When it comes to your safety, a board-certified anesthesiologist (with more than 8 years of training in medicine, pharmacology and anesthesiology) is better-qualified to oversee the sedation of patients.

Office-based sedation is overseen by the Physician doing the procedure,who instructs a nurse on which drugs to give and how much. This means the physician's attention is divided. He bears the burden of having to deal with unexpected reactions to the medications, decreased oxygen levels, with minimal training on how to do this.

The incentive for the Physician is that they not only bill for the procedure itself, but also bill for the sedation...many Physicians also receive up to 4 TIMES MORE for doing procedures in the office than in a surgery center or hospital!!!Talk about incentive!

This is a terrible tragedy, caused by inattention to detail, because the staff were not focused on the sedation nearly as much as the procedure being performed itself...

When Non-anesthesiologists administer "Conscious Sedation", there are inherently more risks to the patients. This is one example. Many Insurance companies will pay for an anesthesiologist for even screening colonoscopies, and those that don't should be urged strongly to do so.

When it comes to your safety, a board-certified anesthesiologist (with more than 8 years of training in medicine, pharmacology and anesthesiology) is better-qualified to oversee the sedation of patients.

Office-based sedation is overseen by the Physician doing the procedure,who instructs a nurse on which drugs to give and how much. This means the physician's attention is divided. He bears the burden of having to deal with unexpected reactions to the medications, decreased oxygen levels, with minimal training on how to do this.

The incentive for the Physician is that they not only bill for the procedure itself, but also bill for the sedation...many Physicians also receive up to 4 TIMES MORE for doing procedures in the office than in a surgery center or hospital!!!Talk about incentive!

This is a terrible tragedy, caused by inattention to detail, because the staff were not focused on the sedation nearly as much as the procedure being performed itself...