California Society of Anesthesiologists

CSA News

Anesthesia and Developing Brains — Implications of the FDA Warning

For more than 15 years, the potential for lasting neurotoxic effects of agents used to induce general anesthesia and sedation when administered to young children — and indirectly through pregnant women to fetuses with developing brains — has been a subject of concern and considerable research interest.

Podcast - CSA President Karen Sibert MD…in her own words

In tribute to National Women Physician’s Day, I spoke with California Society of Anesthesiologist’s President-elect, Karen Sibert.

America’s veterans deserve the best, and safest, pain treatment

Pain is usually considered a symptom, not a life-threatening medical problem. But for Army veteran Richard Dejarnette, 52, constant excruciating pain in his right leg made his life intolerable, and he believes he wouldn’t be alive today if a physician anesthesiologist at the VA West Los Angeles Medical Center hadn’t been there to help him.

Jerry Brown doesn’t want to give doctors a cut of new tobacco tax money

Doctors have long argued that the money they receive for serving Medi-Cal patients isn’t enough to sustain a practice, leading to a shortage of medical providers willing to treat California’s poorest residents in rural communities and other pockets of the state.

Anesthesia before age 4 may have small effect on academics later

Kids who are exposed to surgical anesthesia before age four tend to have slightly lower school grades at age 16 compared to other kids, but the difference is very small and shouldn’t discourage parents from proceeding with necessary surgeries, researchers say.