A podcast about the history of anaesthesia, the gases we use to put people to sleep, and how the safety of patients became central to a modern speciality.
Over sixty years after the discovery of chloroform anaesthesia, doctors would finally get a conclusive answer about its risks. And as we head towards the 200th anniversary of William Morton’s ether demonstration, new problems with the modern inhaled anaesthetics we use are being debated.
Featuring:
Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne
Dr Martin Vollmer, of EMPA the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology’s Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology
The voice of Alfred Goodman Levy was provided by Max Dowler
Featuring extracts from Dr Edmond ‘Ted’ Eger’s Living History of Anaesthesiology interview, courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology. woodlibrarymuseum.org (//www.woodlibrarymuseum.org)
Open Drop Ether Anaesthesia audio courtesy of the Wellcome Library.
You can find more information about the risks of anaesthesia from the website of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, www.RCOA.ac.uk (//www.rcoa.ac.uk)
Music by Nicola Chang
Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com (//www.etherorpod.com)
13 Nov 2021
5: The Commissions
Chloroform could stop patients breathing if you accidentally gave too much, but could it also cause the heart to suddenly stop beating? John Snow thought it did, but doctors in Scotland disagreed. Through the second half of the 19th century, the commissions and committees that investigated chloroform’s risks would chase an answer around the world, to India. And the results would be controversial.
Featuring:
Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and former Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology
Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne
Professor Tim Cook, Consultant Anaesthetist and Royal College of Anaesthetists Director of National Audit Projects
Alan Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, as the voice of Edward Laurie.
Music by Nicola Chang
Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com
6 Nov 2021
4: By Principle or By Rule
Chloroform's ease of use and lack of side effects compared to ether made it an attractive choice for doctors and patients, but as its use spread across the country, doctors and dentists using it would discover it could have sinister consequences both for their patients, and for themselves, and questions about its safety would set Edinburgh against London in an argument about its use.
Featuring:
Dr Sophie Boles, trainee anaesthetist, London
Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and former Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology
Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne
Alan Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, as the voice of James Young Simpson.
Music by Nicola Chang
Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com
30 Oct 2021
3: A Scottish Solution
Now ether anaesthesia had been discovered, how were doctors going to use it? And what was the experience like for the patients? As doctors struggled to get to grips with this new discovery, they'd look for solutions to some of ether's problems and an answer would come from an Edinburgh obstetrician.
Featuring:
Dr Monica Walker, Front of House and Engagement Manager at The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett. www.oldoperatingtheatre.com (http://www.oldoperatingtheatre.com/)
Dr Christine Ball, Consultant Anaesthetist, Honorary Curator Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthesiology Melbourne Australia, Wood Library Museum of Anaesthesiology Laureate
Dr Alistair McKenzie, Consultant Anaesthetist Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
Adam Unze as the Voice of Jacob Bigelow. Adam is the host of the podcast ‘The Spark Parade,’ where he geeks out with artists and entertainers about their spark of cultural inspiration. www.thesparkparade.com (http://www.thesparkparade.com/)
Alan Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, as the voice of James Young Simpson.
Music by Nicola Chang
Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com
23 Oct 2021
2: A Question of Attribution
Horace Wells' nitrous oxide demonstration had been a disaster, but in it an old colleague would see opportunity. A second demonstration of painless surgery would have an altogether different outcome, would turn colleagues into rivals, and would make people wonder what it really means to lay claim to a discovery.
Featuring:
Dr Warren Zapol MD, Reginald Jenney Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and Former Chief of Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Professor Deborah Bowman, Emeritus Professor of Bioethics, Clinical Ethics and Medical Law at St Georges Hospital Medical School, University of London
Adam Unze as the Voice of Horace Wells. Adam is the host of the podcast ‘The Spark Parade,’ where he geeks out with artists and entertainers about their spark of cultural inspiration. www.thesparkparade.com (http://www.thesparkparade.com/)
Music by Nicola Chang
Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com
16 Oct 2021
1: The Agony and the Ecstasy
How does surgery with anaesthesia today compare to surgery without it? And how did we discover that breathing in gas could relieve the pain of an amputation? In the mid 19th century, scientists were discovering new gases, and new ways to experiment with them, but the origins of anaesthesia don't lie in a science lab or a hospital, but in recreational drug use and dentists and doctors getting high on their own supply.
Featuring:
Dr Warren Zapol MD, Reginald Jenney Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and Former Chief of Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Lara Stubbs as the voice of Frances ‘Fanny’ Burney
News clip courtesy of CTV News, Canada
Music by Nicola Chang
Artwork by Matthew Johnston
Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron
Executive Producer Joel Myers
www.etherorpod.com
3 Oct 2021
Introducing: Ether/Or
Ether/Or is about the discovery of anaesthesia, and all its advantages. But it's also about the many problems that came with it. From failed attempts to fatal consequences, the introduction of anaesthesia in 1846 was a major leap forward for medicine and surgery. But it forced doctors and patients to grapple with the many new questions it raised. What did it mean to lay claim to a discovery? What if the pain of surgery was beneficial? And what if the anaesthetic was deadly? It's tempting to think that the problems of those early days of anaesthesia have been left well in the past, but if you listen carefully you'll realise the debates those first anaesthetists had still echo in our operating theatres today.
Episode 1 of Ether/Or will premier on October 16th, World Anaesthesia Day. Subscribe now and celebrate one of the greatest discoveries in medical history by exploring how the dark beginnings of anaesthesia led to a modern speciality with the safety of patients at it core.
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