All doctor-patient relationships require trust, perhaps none so deep as the faith we place in anesthesiologists. We allow them to guide our vital processes, such as our breathing and heart rate, often taking us perilously close to death. As we go under, totally vulnerable, we count on them not to rifle through our belongings. But how much can we trust these specialists not to pick our pockets?We can’t in most Texas hospitals, suggests a suit filed late last month by the Federal Trade Commission, the agency tasked with protecting consumers and ensuring competitive markets. The 106-page enforcement complaint reads at times like a gangster-movie screenplay. It tracks the rise of U.S. Anesthesia Partners, a company created in 2012 by New York City–based private equity firm…The post While We Were Sleeping: The Feds Say a Price-fixing Scheme Costs Texas Patients Tens of Millions appeared first on Texas Monthly.