Time Me, Gentlemen': The Fastest Surgeon of the 19th Century

Time Me, Gentlemen': The Fastest Surgeon of the 19th Century

In 1847, a doctor performed an amputation in 25 seconds, operating so quickly that he accidentallyp amputated his assistant's fingers as well. Both later died of sepsis, and a spectator reportedly died of shock, resulting in the only known procedure with a 300% mortality rate.

His name is Dr. Robert Liston

In 1846, Liston received a patient named Frederick Churchill, whose right knee had been causing him terrible problems for years. None of the treatments he'd been given before had worked, and now the only option was amputation. The day of the surgery, Liston walked into the operating room and, instead of grabbing a knife and asking his audience to time him, he pulled out a jar. Ether, American dentists and doctors had recently demonstrated, could be used as a surgical anesthetic. "We are going to try a Yankee dodge today, gentlemen," Liston told the crowd, "for making men insensible."

Liston's colleague, Dr. William Squire, administered the anesthesia. He held a rubber tube to Churchill's mouth so he could inhale the ether, and after a few minutes, he was out. Squire placed a handkerchief laced with more of the stuff over Churchill's face to keep him that way, and then Liston began the operation.

A mere 25 seconds later, the amputation was complete. Churchill roused a few minutes later and reportedly asked when the operation was going to begin, to the amusement of the audience.

Further use of ether in Europe's operating rooms revealed its drawbacks. It irritated surgeons' lungs, caused vomiting and other side effects in patients and, in some windowless rooms where surgery was performed by gaslight, ignited and caused fires. Anesthetics would continue to improve and become more common in medicine, but Liston wouldn't get to see much of their progress. He died in a sailing accident less than a year after Churchill's surgery, still the fastest knife London had ever known.

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