Hypnosis is very well suited to be used as an anesthetic. Dave Elman explains a lot about this in his book "Hypnotherapy". Some time ago a lot of people died from the anesthetics alone, and not because of the operation. By using hypnosis alone or sometimes as a supplement, the risk of the patient dying as a result of the anesthetics were greatly reduced. Dave Elman also explains how his father was helped by a hypnotist to be free from the pains related to his cancer. Elman personally uses self-hypnosis at the dentist, to avoid being sedated with drugs.

Besides the book by Elman I have read about many ways of using hypnosis to control pain. James Esdaile was a surgeon from Britain who worked in India for a period in his life. Instead of using medical anesthetics he used hypnosis when he was to operate his patients. By inducing a deep level of hypnosis the patient was able to be absolutely pain-free and have a quick recovery, since there were no drugs involved. Similarly hypnosis has been used by many women to avoid pain while giving labor to a child.

In my mind it's very silly that we use as much medical anesthesia as we do, when we could substitute it with hypnosis. That way the risk of being operated could be reduced and the cost of anesthetics could be avoided. It's a win/win situation, but it would require a research effort in the field of hypnosis by the surgeons.