Operations Without Pain

by Stephanie J. Snow

The introduction of anaesthesia to Victorian Britain marked a defining moment between modern medicine and earlier practices. This book uses new information from John Snow's casebooks and London hospital archives to revise many of the existing historical assumptions about the early history of surgical anaesthesia. By examining complex patterns of innovation, reversals, debate and geographical difference, Stephanie Snow shows how anaesthesia became established as a routine part of British medicine.

284 pages, Unknown Binding

First published December 16, 2005

Reviews

[Lauren Daddi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting read about the development of anesthesia in the 1800s and the multiple paradigm camps (chloroform vs ether, inhaler vs cloth, surgeon administered vs specialist) and how the different attitudes evolved over time within the cultural context of different places. I thought this might be quite dry but it was actually a captivating read. I now have a much greater appreciation of John Snow, beyond his epidemiology of cholera, as one of the first anesthesia specialists.

Also an interesting note at the end regarding the circumstances leading to the continued predominance of physician anesthetists in England, yet the US, which originated by having students/nurses administer anesthesia, evolved a competitive dynamic between nurse anesthetists and physician specialists, whom claimed the term anesthesiologist to distinguish themselves their nurse counterparts.