Imagine Surgery With No Painkiller
National Doctors’ Day Celebrates Anniversary of Anesthesia Use During Surgery

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BY ANNA WILSON
BLUE RIDGE HEALTHCARE

FOR THE NEWS HERALD

MORGANTON - The 3 a.m. deliveries.

The Sunday afternoon emergency surgery.

A shoulder to cry on.

A hand to hold.

Burke County physicians fulfill these roles and more, sacrificing time with their own families to help other families deal with bad news, bad breaks and bad falls. They are also there to share the good - a new baby, being discharged, favorable test results or coming through surgery with no complications. They see us at our best and at our worst.

And there are physicians behind the scenes - ones you may never see - but who have had a hand in your care just the same. The pathologists, the radiologists, the anesthesiologist, etc.

In order to recognize and show appreciation for doctors, National Doctors’ Day is observed every year on March 30. Blue Ridge HealthCare is honoring its physicians at Grace and Valdese Hospitals with events planned around the national day. Physicians at Grace will be honored on Wednesday, and physicians at Valdese on Friday. Doctors will be treated to a bountiful breakfast and a commemorative gift from the health system.

“Doctors’ Day is an opportunity for staff throughout Blue Ridge HealthCare to express an extra measure of appreciation for our physicians’ dedication and caring toward patients,” said Laura Lambeth, Vice President of Physician Services. “We try to show our appreciation throughout the year, but we make a special effort on Doctors’ Day.”

The first Doctors’ Day observance was held on March 30, 1933, in Winder, Ga. A physician’s wife Eudora Almond, conceived the idea of setting aside a day to honor those in the same professional as her husband. The date recognizes the anniversary of the first administration of anesthesia during an operation.

Before the advent of anesthesia, patients experienced excruciating pain during surgery. Some remedies thought to be successful were blood letting, hitting the patient in the head with a hammer, hypnotism and alcohol.

If you imagine having an operation without any kind of painkillers or even a tooth pulled without Novocain, you can certainly appreciate the field of anesthesia.

Just in the 15 years since James Chimiak, MD, has been practicing anesthesiology, there have been great strides in the field.

“We have better muscle relaxers, better inhalation agents, better mechanisms and therapies for pain and post operative pain management,” said Dr. Chimiak, an anesthesiologist at Blue Ridge HealthCare.

An anesthesiologist, a doctor who specializes in pain control during surgery, is involved with the evaluation of a patient before, during and after surgery. “We watch all aspects of the patient ensuring they are well monitored and treated throughout the perioperative period,” Dr. Chimiak said.

The anesthesiologist pays particular attention to heart, lung and kidney function in order to prevent a heart attack, respiratory arrest or kidney failure. “We closely monitor the patient throughout the entire perioperative period,” he said.

Other strides in the field have been in the equipment and knowledge of the airway. “Airway mishaps are extremely infrequent,” Dr. Chimiak said. “We have a host of devices and procedures that can be done when someone has a compromised airway.

“As a result of our understanding and development of these devices, other medical specialists such as emergency room physicians, pulmonologists and EMTs are employing techniques that anesthesia has pioneered and have been adapted for use outside the operating room,” he added.

ANNA WILSON is a media writer/graphic artist in the Marketing and Public Relations Department at Blue Ridge HealthCare.

History of Anesthesia Filled With Triumph, Tragedy

Dr. Crawford W. Long, for whom Long County, Georgia and Emory University’s Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, are named, is credited with the first use of ether to alleviate pain during surgery. He used an ether-soaked towel on James Venable and removed a neck tumor. Venable’s bill for $2 included the cost of the ether as well as the surgery!

But the history of ether and anesthesia is complex and fascinating with one physician ending up in prison where he committed suicide, another dying in poverty, and yet another thought to have gone mad. Dr. Long himself died of a stroke at age 62 in 1878 while attempting to administer ether to a farmer’s wife during labor.

While Dr. Long is credited with the first use, he never received recognition during his lifetime. Competing for the claim were Boston dentist William Morton, Connecticut dentist Horace Wells and Boston physician and chemist Charles Jackson.

Wells had been using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for years during tooth extractions. In 1845, he demonstrated his technique to a group of Harvard Medical School students at Massachusetts General Hospital. He failed to administer enough gas and his patient cried out in pain. Wells never recovered from the humiliation and he eventually gave up his dental practice. He began experimenting with chloroform and became addicted. While under the influence, he threw acid on the clothing of a prostitute and was jailed. He committed suicide in prison by slashing his thigh with a razor. He was 33.

Two years after Wells’ failed attempt, Morton, a colleague of Wells, administered ether to a patient at Mass General, marking the first successful public demonstration of the technique. Morton tried to patent his “invention” and thought to make money from it. He called his drug “letheon” but later was forced to reveal that it was simply ether. (Morton also claimed to be a graduate of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, but no records exist of him ever attending dental or medical school.)

Finally, Charles Jackson, MD, a Boston physician and chemist who had advised Morton to use ether, claimed to have a large part in the discovery.

After 20 years of litigation and poverty, Morton died at age 49 of a heat stroke suffered while riding through Central Park. He left his wife and five children penniless. At Morton’s graveside, his widow reportedly said: “My husband’s great gift, which he devoted to the service of mankind, proved a curse to himself and to his family.”

Jackson suffered what appeared to be a stroke with paralysis and speech impairment, but the disability led caretakers to believe he had gone mad. He spent seven years in an asylum before he died in 1880 at age 75.

“Everyone rolls their eyes when you talk about ether now,” said James Chimiak, MD, an anesthesiologist in the operating room at Grace Hospital. “It had a lot of bad qualities that are no longer found in modern day anesthetics - prolonged sedation, vomiting and nausea. We don’t have those anymore. We use short-acting inhalation anesthetics that do not cause nausea.

“Almost every medication used in the past has been replaced by a superior medication or technique,” he added. “It’s made the whole field of anesthesia much safer and more pleasant for the patient and we have better outcomes.”

No matter who the credit goes to, the advent of anesthesia has brought about a revolution in the medical field. Patients found relief from relentless pain and surgeons soon found it gave them the chance to perform long, delicate operations.

Sources: Anesthesia Nursing and Medicine web site; Mass General Hospital Web site; BLTC Research, Southern Medical Association Alliance, New George Encyclopedia, C.W. Long Museum

The second largest employer in Burke County, Blue Ridge HealthCare serves a four-county area and includes Grace and Valdese hospitals, Blue Ridge Home HealthCare, Grace Heights and College Pines Health & Rehabilitation Centers, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and a number of physician practices.