[The practice of anesthesia].

It is well-established that nurse anesthetists practice nursing. Anesthesia administration has been a proper nursing function both in practice and in law for more than 100 years. Courts have long recognized the administration of anesthesia by nurses as a proper nursing function. In Frank v South, 194 S.W. 375 (Ky. 1917), the court ruled that a nurse giving anesthesia was not engaged in the practice of medicine within the meaning of the statute forbidding the unauthorized practice of medicine. Although Frank v South is many years old, its finding that nurse anesthetists do not practice medicine is still relevant because it has never been overturned or contradicted by another court. In Montana Society of Anesthesiologists v. Montana Board of Nursing, 339 Mont. 472, 171 P.3d 704 (2007), the Supreme Court of Montana reaffirmed this legal principle, recognizing that anesthesia is a specialty within the field of nursing and that nurse anesthetists practice nursing. 1