As the federal government wrestles with shortages of cancer drugs, there’s another group of drugs in short supply with even more far reaching effects.

They’re the drugs used by anesthesiologists to put you to sleep and control pain.

The shortage is so severe it's forcing many of these doctors to re-think how they practice, on a daily basis.

Welcome to medicine's new reality. Blame manufacturing problems and shrinking profit margins and we're seeing upwards of 300 commonly used medicines in short supply, and anesthetics are no exception.

Dr. Michael Simon is the president elect of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists and practices with a group encompassing 27 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in New York and Pennsylvania.

He knows first hand how the shortages make a challenging specialty even more so.

HANCOCK, Mass. (AP) - So many students and staff at a small western Massachusetts school have fallen ill that classes have been cancelled for the day.
    
Principal Jeanne Filiault tells the North Adams Transcript that nearly two-thirds of the Hancock Central School's 39 students in grades pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade stayed home sick Tuesday as did most of the staff, including the nurse.
    
She says there are just two healthy teachers left.
    
The school will be disinfected Tuesday and it is hoped it will reopen Wednesday, although the principal still expects a lot of absences.
    
Filiault says her doctor told her a flu strain has been "spreading like wildfire" through the school in the past week.
    
Hancock is along the New York border.

ALBANY – In 1991 Dine Out for Life was started to raise money for AIDS research. What started as a small event in Philadelphia has grown to over 3,500 restaurants in 60 cities across North America.  On average $4 million dollars is raised.

This year’s event will occur on Thursday, April 26, and Dine Out for Life International wants to know why you choose to dine out. Just record a short video telling them why and submit it by midnight on April 8, and you could win a trip for two to any participating city.

To Enter CLICK HERE

Or, if your just looking to go out and have a good meal and help raise money for a great cause, CLICK HERE, for a list of participating Capital Region restaurants. Restaurants will continue to be added until the end of March.