Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008

Anesthesia
Amazing Discoveries

Have you ever had an operation? If so, you know that you were put to sleep. When you woke up, it was over. Anesthesia let you to sleep through the doctor’s cutting, probing, and sewing.

Before anesthesia was discovered, most people who needed operations died. The pain of the doctor cutting the person open while he or she was awake often caused a heart attack. Most people walked around with a mouthful of tooth decay. They only went to a dentist if they could no longer stand the pain. The dentist had to yank the tooth out of the person’s jaw. The person was in agony.

Doctors tried to dull their patients’ pain by pouring whiskey down their throats. Sometimes this worked. The drunken patient would fall asleep. But more often than not, the whiskey didn’t help much. Then the patient was tied down.

A substance called ether was the first anesthetic. But people didn’t use it that way. They bought it for “ether parties.” At them, the guests sniffed the ether. Then they stumbled around doing silly things. Sometimes a person got hurt. A bone was broken or a bad gash bled. But the person seemed to feel no pain. Dr. Crawford Long went to such a party and saw how the people acted. He wondered if ether could end the pain of his patients.

Long asked a man if he would let him remove a tumor from the back of his neck. The man refused. Then on March 30, 1842, he agreed after Long suggested using ether. The man sat in a chair. He breathed a towel soaked in ether. Then Long cut away the tumor while the man slept. Both the patient and the doctor were thrilled.

Long used ether on his own patients. But he did not tell others. When a doctor makes a discovery, he or she is supposed to write about it in a medical journal. In this way, knowledge is shared. Long was busy, and he didn’t like writing. At last he published a paper about the miracle drug in December 1849. In the meantime thousands of patients had endured surgery without it.

During the years between Long’s discovery and his article, another doctor and two dentists had discovered anesthesia, too. When the U.S. Congress offered a $100,000 prize for the discoverer, all four men claimed it. Dr. Crawford Long had used anesthesia first. In 1845, Dr. Horace Wells had tried to show other doctors. But they had accused him of trickery! Dr. William Morton had successfully revealed it to the world in 1846. But he had gotten the idea from Dr. Charles Jackson. Since it was impossible to determine who should get the prize, nobody did. To this day, no one gets the credit for one of the most important discoveries ever made.

Anesthesia

Anesthesia

1. The first man to use anesthesia was

a. Dr. William Morton.

b. Dr. Charles Jackson.

c. Dr. Horace Wells.

d. Dr. Crawford Long.

2. Another word for surgery is

a. patient.

b. anesthesia.

c. operation.

d. tumor.

3. Ether is a type of

a. general anesthesia.

b. regional anesthesia.

c. local anesthesia.

d. illegal anesthesia.

4. Dr. Charles Jackson received the $100,000 prize for discovering anesthesia. True or False? Explain.

5. According to the General Hospital patient brochure, how many types of anesthesia are used today? Which one never puts the patient to sleep?

6. Should the $100,000 prize for the discovery of anesthesia have been divided equally among the four doctors? Why or why not?