Has anesthesia ever failed?

Although it is very uncommon for anesthesia to fail, but in rare circumstances, this has happened. Now, when local anesthesia is given, the patient is awake and expects to be awake. But, when general anesthesia is given, it is expected that the patient will be asleep and will not experience any pain. But when the patient wakes up all of a sudden, that can be quite a frightening experience for the patient, doctors, and nurses as well.

Such a mishap only affects 0.2% to up to 0.4% of patients and sometime a bit more. But the side effects are not good. When this anesthesia awareness happens in patients, approximately 42% of them feel the pain as a result of the operation. And an alarming 94% will go through panic or anxiety, and up to 70% will experience symptoms that last and may have psychological and neurological effects. For these people, the entire experience is quite traumatic.