“That is not
possible”, - you think, and you are dead wrong.
Robert Liston, described as the ‘The Great Northern Anatomist’ or the ‘fastest
knife in the West’, was a pioneering surgeon who was widely considered
to be the best of his era. His reputation spread throughout Europe and America,
but at home in Britain, he was a bit of a controversial figure. He was both
skilful and daring, and not short of self-confidence. He was also a showman and
reveled in being able to carry out operations that others rejected. Liston
struck a fine balance between rashness and speed. And in an age when hospital
hygiene was unheard of, a high proportion of his patients lived to be grateful
for the swiftness of his knife. It was Richard Gordon, a modern biographer of
Liston, who christened him as ‘the fastest knife in the West’, meaning the West
End of London where Liston worked as Professor of Clinical Surgery at
University College. It is said that he could amputate a leg in a mere two and a
half minutes, but that probably still felt like an age to the patient in
question who was most likely suffering from shock as well as the pain.
Gordon described him
as follows:
He was six foot two, and operated in a
bottle-green coat with wellington boots. He sprung across the blood-stained
boards upon his swooning, sweating, strapped-down patient like a duelist,
calling, 'Time me gentlemen, time me!' to students craning with pocket watches
from the iron-railinged galleries. Everyone swore that the first flash of his
knife was followed so swiftly by the rasp of saw on bone that sight and sound
seemed simultaneous. To free both hands, he would clasp the bloody knife
between his teeth.
In addition to
being a dab hand with a knife, Liston was also a teacher of surgical methods
and an inventor. The list of his life saving inventions contains several
medical instruments that even today remain in use. He invented the ‘Liston
splint’, still in use to stabilize dislocations and fractures of the femur, the
‘bulldog’ locking forceps, which are still used to seal arteries against blood
loss, and see-through, isinglass (Ichthyocolla) sticking plaster. As a teacher,
Liston taught by example and taught simplicity in all operative procedures and
in that capacity, he was also the author of ‘The Elements of Surgery’ and
‘Practical Surgery’, both of which were published in the 1830s.
One of the things he is most famous for is being the
first surgeon in Europe to perform an operation using ether as an anesthetic.
The ether, at that time a revolutionary new substance from America, was used on
the patient and the operation took place on the 21st of December, 1846, at the
University College Hospital in London. That was before another famous Scot, Sir
James Young Simpson, who knew Liston and had observed his work, introduced
chloroform. Liston’s ground breaking operation, typically for him being an
amputation, was performed on one Frederick Churchill and took just twenty-eight
seconds. You’d think he would have taken his time on that occasion, but maybe
he was nonetheless wary of the efficacy of the ether. His success was reported
thus, in the London ‘People’s Journal’: “Oh, what delight for every feeling heart…
the announcement of this noble discovery of the power to still the sense of
pain, and veil the eye and memory from all the horrors of an operation. ...we
have conquered pain!”
In spite all the professional achievements, Robert Liston
became popular among general public due to several famous cases from his
surgical practice.
In the most famous case, Liston managed to amputate
the leg for his patient in under 21⁄2 minutes, but the
patient died afterwards in the ward from hospital gangrene). That was not the
only outcome of his surgery. Due to the amazing speed of surgical procedures,
Liston constantly disregarded of what is going around him. In rush, he amputated
in addition the fingers of his young assistant, who also died afterwards in the
ward from hospital gangrene. But that is not all! He also slashed through the
coat tails of a distinguished surgical spectator, who was so terrified that the
knife had pierced his vitals he dropped dead from fright.
That was the only operation in history with 300
percent mortality.
In another famous case, Robert Liston successfully amputated the patient’s leg in two and a half
minutes, but in his enthusiasm the patient's testicles as well.
Sources and
Additional Information:
No comments:
Post a Comment