The majority of anesthesia is routine sedation of healthy people for routine things like colon screenings. Those types of procedures are ripe for automation with systems like J&J's Sedasys cutting costs from $2000 to $200 a procedure. It was pulled off the market last year due to anesthesiologist opposition rather than problems with they system.

It seems that the barriers to automation may be more the result of strong professional associations rather than specific complexities of the job.

Thoughts?