The history of anaesthesia
16 October - 7 minsToday is World Anaesthesia Day, which marks the first successful demonstration of the inhalation of ether vapour as a means of overcoming pain of surgery.
It happened on October 16th, 1846 at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, during a surgery performed by dentist William T. G. Morton.
Ireland followed suit with a second successful trial, which was administered on an 18-year-old girl during the famine.
Consultant Anaesthesiologist Dr. Patrick Seigne says today is an important opportunity to celebrate a practice that is often taken for granted, as well as Ireland’s contribution to the field. He joins Seán to discuss.
Series Episodes
How Irish revolutionaries negotiated murky world of ‘spies and scoundrels’ in the fight for independence
8 mins
17 November Finished
