Sometimes, a patient can die following a surgery. There are many reasons why this can happen. Most of the times, death comes with a warning - a seriously ill patient, an underlying organ failure, associated critical illness, old age , multiple coexisting conditions to name a few.In these situations, the death is somewhat expected though unpleasant. There are some situations where the death is unexpected. These include cardiac arrest due to vagus nerve over activity, severe allergic reactions to drugs or chemicals. These are the situations where the death is both unexpected and unpleasant and sometimes leads to litigation's and court battles. Usually the surgeon is taken to task and has to suffer infamy and also loss of money and reputation. Today's story is about a surgeon who became famous (or rather infamous?) with an unexpected unusual mortality!
Robert Liston was a Scottish surgeon. He was known for speedy surgeries he used to conduct. He lived at an era (1794 - 1847) when there was not much effective anesthesia was available. Therefore speed was a required faculty for a surgeon to be successful. A noted surgeon, Richard Gordon, in his book written in 1983 describes some cases which made Liston famous.
There was a patient with a huge scrotal swelling. After removal, this weighed 45 kilo grams and had to be taken away using a wheel barrow!
Then there was a young boy with a red, pulsating' tumor' in the neck. Liston diagnosed it as an abscess and was ready to drain it immediately. A young but sensible house surgeon suggested that the 'tumor' could be an aneurysm as it was pulsatile. Impatient and irritated, Liston argued saying that aneurysm was highly unlikely in such a young patient. "Whoever heard of an aneurysm in one so young?" were his exact words. He promptly pulled out a knife from the pocket of his waist coat and lanced it . The disaster that followed has been promptly recorded by the house surgeon "Out leaped the arterial blood and the boy fell!" The patient promptly died. The aneurysmal artery still lives on as specimen no 1256 at the Pathology museum of the university college hospital!
Amputation of the limbs required both speed and efficiency and therefore a special skill required by the surgeon intending to do it. Usually these operations were witnessed by doctors, medical students and some distinguished spectators who would be surprised and enamored by the spectacle! One day Liston was amputating a limb. He completed the swift amputatoin in less than 2 and a half minutes! Then a most unexpected event took place - the knife not only amputated the intended limb but also his testicles which was unintentional but disastrous!
The cake is taken by the mother of all disastrous case wherein Liston wherein Liston swiftly amputated the leg in under 2 1/2 minutes. The patient died from gangrene due to hospital acquired infection ( after all it was in the pre - Listerian era). This was no big deal. though the mortality was 100%, it was acceptable. This story has an incredible ending - a 300% mortality! Wondering how it happened? Liston accidentally amputated the fingers of his young assistant who also succumbed to gangrene following gangrene due to hospital acquired infection. If that leaves you wondering how did a third person die in this unique episode, I will gladly explain. One of the invited distinguished spectators was intently watching the event. The tip of the swinging knife slashed his coat tails so close to his 'vitals' that he thought that his 'vitals' have also been amputated and died in sheer fright! Therefore this surgery had a 300% mortality! Incredible story - very strange but true!
Robert Liston was a Scottish surgeon. He was known for speedy surgeries he used to conduct. He lived at an era (1794 - 1847) when there was not much effective anesthesia was available. Therefore speed was a required faculty for a surgeon to be successful. A noted surgeon, Richard Gordon, in his book written in 1983 describes some cases which made Liston famous.
There was a patient with a huge scrotal swelling. After removal, this weighed 45 kilo grams and had to be taken away using a wheel barrow!
Then there was a young boy with a red, pulsating' tumor' in the neck. Liston diagnosed it as an abscess and was ready to drain it immediately. A young but sensible house surgeon suggested that the 'tumor' could be an aneurysm as it was pulsatile. Impatient and irritated, Liston argued saying that aneurysm was highly unlikely in such a young patient. "Whoever heard of an aneurysm in one so young?" were his exact words. He promptly pulled out a knife from the pocket of his waist coat and lanced it . The disaster that followed has been promptly recorded by the house surgeon "Out leaped the arterial blood and the boy fell!" The patient promptly died. The aneurysmal artery still lives on as specimen no 1256 at the Pathology museum of the university college hospital!
Amputation of the limbs required both speed and efficiency and therefore a special skill required by the surgeon intending to do it. Usually these operations were witnessed by doctors, medical students and some distinguished spectators who would be surprised and enamored by the spectacle! One day Liston was amputating a limb. He completed the swift amputatoin in less than 2 and a half minutes! Then a most unexpected event took place - the knife not only amputated the intended limb but also his testicles which was unintentional but disastrous!
The cake is taken by the mother of all disastrous case wherein Liston wherein Liston swiftly amputated the leg in under 2 1/2 minutes. The patient died from gangrene due to hospital acquired infection ( after all it was in the pre - Listerian era). This was no big deal. though the mortality was 100%, it was acceptable. This story has an incredible ending - a 300% mortality! Wondering how it happened? Liston accidentally amputated the fingers of his young assistant who also succumbed to gangrene following gangrene due to hospital acquired infection. If that leaves you wondering how did a third person die in this unique episode, I will gladly explain. One of the invited distinguished spectators was intently watching the event. The tip of the swinging knife slashed his coat tails so close to his 'vitals' that he thought that his 'vitals' have also been amputated and died in sheer fright! Therefore this surgery had a 300% mortality! Incredible story - very strange but true!
An incredible story!
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