Introducing: Ether/Or

10/03/21 • 2 min

2 Listeners

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.

Next Episode

1: The Agony and the Ecstasy

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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