Exacerbated by astonishing overuse for anything from a 2-minute endoscopy to a 15-minute hand surgery. The pursuit of “comfort” at the cost of fractional lobotomy.
One of the joys of private healthcare: I've seen general anaesthesia used to allow the patient to claim on their inpatient cover instead of their (exhausted) outpatient cover.
Which end are we scoping? Colonoscopy is often done without anaesthesia but tends to take longer than 2 minutes, so I'm not sure if that's what OC is referring to. It's uncomfortable, but that's ok. Scoping nose/mouth->stomach also doesn't come with any drugs, just some lube.
I've done it (it's standard in many countries). Honestly, it's a bit horrifying because you are completely at the mercy of someone else but it's bearable. Colonoscopy is definitely easier.
My only experience with global anesthesia was as a child waking up with a massive asthma attack unable to breathe so I try to avoid it.