The Anesthesia Rollup That Settled Before Trial

A decade of acquisitions, an unresolved legal theory, and a settlement that left the biggest questions unanswered.

In April 2026, the FTC quietly settled one of the most important healthcare antitrust cases in recent years.

There was no trial verdict. There has been no judicial ruling on the government’s core theory. No definitive answer to the broader question surrounding the case:

Can antitrust law stop a monopoly that slowly built itself through dozens of smaller a…