A man caught fire and died (though not from the fire) during surgery.

I remember learning of a similar story during my training of hazards associated with an oxygen rich environment. A patient was intubated while a surgeon performed some incisions using a laser scapel. The surgeon accidently nicked the tube supplying pure oxygen to the patient's lungs. Sadly, doctors are not perfect, and some concepts must be learned the hard way.

However, I find the hospital's, in this story, claim that the patient died of heart failure and not the fire somewhat disingenious. Unless the fire was extremely small and extinguished quickly (a possibility in this alcohol related fire), then I might go with the idea the fire caused superficial damage and therefore the surgery was otherwise unsuccessful. It seems though that the fire could at the very least been an inappropriate distraction.

My thought exactly, Leland. If the fire was first noticed and reacted to at a critical time in the procedure, the fire might well have caused the death without having inflicted life-threatening burns.