We investigated the Danish Patient Insurance Association files of patients, who were given financial compensation, because of an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. In the six-year-period 1996-2002, 374 patients were compensated in total 8.0 million euros for an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. Some anaesthetic complications may result in severe disability, whereby the financial compensation to the suffering patients is high. We estimate that approximately 0.2 per 1,000 of all patients receiving anaesthesia may develop complications that entitle them to financial compensation.