In the era of "second medical opinion," in an age when average magazine readers know more about face-lifts, nose jobs and breast reductions than family doctors, 75 percent of people who have had anesthesia, do not even remember the name of the anesthesiologist. Life in the operating room is similar to life in a submarine: no windows, no daylight, and always the same people present. The only "visitor," is usually asleep. Life in the O.R. is also similar to life in a cockpit: hours and hours of satisfactory boredom, interrupted by moments of sheer terror. The anesthesiologist is the pilot who will fly you safely through somber surgical clouds. The passage of time in an operating room is comparable to the passage of time in a cockpit: hours and hours of blessed boredom, interrupted by moments of sheer terror. If a person dies suddenly in a hotel room, the first diagnosis is always "heart attack." If a person dies suddenly in an operating room, the first diagnosis is always "anesthetic death." American citizens are innocent until proven guilty. American physicians are guilty until proven innocent. Just check the never ending ads of "medical malpractice lawyers" on television, Yellow Pages and public benches. But medical innocence is hard to prove in front of well selected non medical juries. Raising the "professional liability insurance" fees for doctors is much easier. In 2006 the one year professional insurance for a Long Island brain surgeon was $270,000 ! Would you let your child become a brain surgeon ? But physicians are not always guilty. "terrO.R." is here to prove it