Cutting out the drugs - Would you have surgery without an anaesthetic?

When Pippa Plaisted was told that she would need a fourth breast cancer operation, it was not the surgery that worried her most. Like many people, the idea of an operation did terrify Pippa, a 46-year-old personal trainer, but this procedure — to reposition an artificial valve attached to her breast implant, which had been inserted after a mastectomy — promised to be a straightforward 45-minute job. What Pippa was more worried about was the fact that the operation would require a general anaesthetic.

Another interesting TimesOnline article about hypno-anaesthesia, the use of hypnosis in place of chemical anaesthesia during medical surgery. This article details one cancer patient's positive experience with hypno-anaesthesia during surgery.