Surgery 1845-1918, Key dates and facts for the edexcel source work exam

Surgery- Pain, Blood loss, Infection

Anaesthetics

Circa 1799

Natural  drugs such as alcohol, opium and mandrake were used but natural anaesthetics that did not make the patient very ill were hard to produce

1799

Humphry Davy identified nitrous oxide as a possible anaesthetic but he was largely ignored

1842

Crawford Long discovered Ether and though he did not publish his work it was demonstrated in 1846. However Ether was an irritant, fairly explosive and could make you sick

1847

James Simpson experimented on himself and discovered chloroform could be used

1848                 First death caused by Chloroform, Hannah Greener

1853                 Queen Victoria used chloroform for the birth of her 8^th child

Modern day    Complicated mixtures of anaesthetics used                       

Anaesthetics were objected to

·         On religious grounds

·         Some people were suspicious of doctors using anaesthetics

·         Some were afraid of side effects and overdose

Early anaesthetics lead to a rise in death rates because

·         Surgeons performed more complicated procedures and cut deeper

·         Surgeons took longer

·         The problems of infection and blood loss had not yet been solved

·         1846-70 the ‘black period’ of…