The ease of use and effectiveness of epidural narcotics for management of pain has resulted in an increasingly widespread use worldwide with apparently little knowledge or concern for the cost-benefit ratio. Lord Nuffield when endowing a Chair of Anesthesia at Oxford, in answer to the query as to why a Chair of Anesthesia when “anybody can give anesthesia,” reputedly answered, “That's what I'm afraid of.” Should we have a similar concern for the use of epidural narcotics? In order to answer that question, five worldwide “experts” were asked the question, “Should epidural morphine be used as routine treatment of acute postoperative pain?” L. Donald Bridenbaugh, M.D.Seattle, Washington