Ether/Or

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

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

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com

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

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. 

A podcast about the history of anaesthesia, and the gases we use to send people to sleep.

A podcast about the history of anaesthesia, and the gases we use to send people to sleep.