Share February 04, 2021, 4:55 PM This is reposted with the writer's permission from her blog on medical topics. She's a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and a past president of the California Society of Anesthesiologists. By Dr. Karen S. Sibert Every death related to anesthesia is a tragedy, especially when a minor procedure such as a colonoscopy leads to a completely unexpected death. Everyone knows that open heart surgery carries a mortality risk, but few of us walk into the hospital for a colonoscopy thinking that death is a plausible outcome. We know so few facts at this point about what happened Jan. 21 at Beaumont Royal Oak Hospital. The patient who died, 51-year-old Richard Curbelo, walked into the hospital for a routine colonoscopy.