Story of Anaesthesia

         16^th October, World Anaesthesia Day

World Anesthesia Day or World Anaesthesia Day, also known in some countries as National Anaesthesia Day or Ether Day, is an annual event celebrated around the world on 16^th October to commemorate the first successful demonstration of diethyl ether anesthesia by William T. G. Morton on that day in 1846.

William Thomas Green Morton who was an American dentist and physician first publicly demonstrated the use of inhaled ether as a surgical anaesthetic in 1846.

Anaesthesia is the use of medicines to prevent pain during surgery and other procedures. These medicines are called anaesthetics. They may be given by injection, inhalation, topical lotion, spray, eye drops or skin patch. They cause you to have loss of feeling or awareness.

 There is one interesting narrated by the writer Sudha Murthy in her book “How I taught my grandmother to read and other stories” about anaethesia.

The story of anaesthesia

 Many years ago, in England, there was a father – and-  son pair who were doctors. The father was very famous and innovative, and the son was young and enthusiastic.  

In those days there was no concept of anaesthesia and whenever a patient was to be operated on, chloroform was given. The  senior  doctor  did many experiments in this field  and developed a  medicine , which  when injected in the area  where the operation  was to be done,  made only that part  numb. There was no need to make the patient unconscious. Today we call this local anaesthesia. He performed several experiments and was convinced by adding different chemicals that this medicine was effective. 

But there was one problem. No one would offer himself for the experiment. Without experimenting on a human being this medicine could not be officially released in the market. 

Now, the doctor’s son had six fingers on his left hand. One day, he suggested to his father, “I know your medicine is very good. You inject it to my sixth finger and operate and remove the finger. Anyway I wanted to get rid of that finger. Let us perform this operation in front of other doctors. No man can stand the pain of surgery without anaesthesia.  When they look at  my face  they will  come to know that  your medicine  has made the area  numb  and I am not  experiencing  any pain." 

The suggestion was very  good. The father  conveyed a  message  to the members of the academy  of medical  science, who  were the  final authority  for allowing this  medicine  to be used in public . 

The day  of the operation came  and several scientists ,  doctors and  other public  figures  assembled  to watch the  effect  of this miracle  injection. The father exhibited his son’s sixth finger, and injected the medicine. He said, “Now I will start the operation. You can observe the patients face.” There was a smile on the young man’s face.

The operation was performed and was a success. Throughout, the smile remained on the sons face. Everybody was amazed by what they saw and congratulated the senior doctor for his work. 

After they left, the young doctor was dressing his wound. His father had tears in his eyes. He embraced his son and started sobbing uncontrollably. “Sorry, my son, I knew what pain you were undergoing during the operation, you never showed it to the public.” 

The injection had to be  prepared  by adding four  chemicals,  but in this hurry and  tension before the  operation ,  the father forgot  to add the fourth . Because of that the injection was not at all effective.  

There was uncontrollable pain during the operation. However the son realized there was something his father had forgotten.  If he showed his pain his father’s experiment would fail. He knew how hard his father had worked to develop this medicine. He himself was aware that it was effective. It was unfortunate that something was not making it work now. 

In the middle of the operation the father too realized the fourth chemical was missing and the medicine was not working. But he was unable to tell this in public. He knew what agony his son was undergoing inspite of the smile on his face. That was why, when everyone left, he broke down crying. The son consoled his father.  “Father, don’t worry. For the welfare of others, I controlled my own pain.”