H. Macnaughton Jones
Published: 2015-06-29
Total Pages: 48
Get eBook
Excerpt from Medical Responsibility in the Choice of Anaesthetics: With a Table of the Anaesthetic Employed, Its Mode of Administration and Results, in Nearly Fifty Large Hospitals in the United Kingdom The fatal result which has lately so often followed the employment of an anaesthetic has prompted me to make these few remarks on the use of anaesthetics generally, and the responsibility which the administration of such entails on the administrator. It is, I think, apparent to all, that the degree of uncertainty which still appertains as regards the selection of an anaesthetic, warrants its being made a subject of careful consideration. It must ever be a matter of considerable moment to an operator to select that anaesthetic which experience and experiment have proved to be the safest. If physiological experiment on the lower animals is borne out by observation on the human subject of its effects, and that both tend to prove the superiority of any one anaesthetic for the great majority of surgical operations, it is certainly our duty to avail ourselves of that one, when we desire to employ any. I am the more desirous to bring this subject forward, as I am aware that hitherto in this city (Cork) one anaesthetic, chloroform, has been generally employed. The fact that from the introduction of chloroform into our city hospitals, to the present date, not a single death has occurred from its use, speaks I consider much for the care exhibited in its administration. Nor, if we look merely to this lucky immunity from accident, are we to be surprised, that those who have so long administered chloroform successfully, should hesitate before they relinquish the use of this agent for any other. They naturally are wedded, from a prolonged employment of it, and that a satisfactory one, to this anaesthetic. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.