Lets assume 50 years from now AAs are accepted all over the nation. Lets assume their track record is outstanding. Now lets assume that small towns are screaming for anesthesia care and can not get it. Their hospitals are not big enough to attract an anesthesiologist and there is a shortage of CRNAS (nursing shortage, mentioned in another string.) So what are those hospitals going to do?
They will push their state legislatures for changes in the AA practice laws. With just a small addition to an already intense AA training program, AAs will be able to function independently, just like CRNAs do now.
And I dare any one of you AAs to stand up and say an AA could not practice independently. We are talking about what people are capable of doing, not what they are allowed to do.
Texas may be one of the first states to do it as they have a major problem with getting any kind of advanced health care out into their rural areas. Just take a look at what Advanced Practice Nurses can do in that state.