 A new proposal by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lowers the standard of anesthesia care for veterans and endangers their lives. Dr. Ronald Harder, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, has more. This risky proposal would replace anesthesiologists who are highly trained physicians with nurse anesthetists in surgery. There is no rationale for this initiative. VA's own data shows there are no anesthesiology workforce or access issues.