BREAKING: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses its decision to put a time limit on anesthesia after widespread outcry.

One of the largest health insurance companies in the US has backed off a controversial new plan to place limits on the amount of time it covers for anesthesia while patients are under the knife after a fierce public outcry.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield — which represents policyholders in New York, Connecticut and Missouri — announced last month that it would deny claims in which a patient was kept under anesthesia longer than the time it determined was necessary, depending on the procedure, in a shocking move physicians called “unprecedented.”

But the company quickly reversed course once news of the plan went viral Thursday following the cold-blooded assassination of a rival company’s CEO in New York City.