Over sixty years after the discovery of chloroform anaesthesia, doctors would finally get a conclusive answer about its risks. And as we head towards the 200th anniversary of William Morton’s ether demonstration, new problems with the modern inhaled anaesthetics we use are being debated.

Featuring:

Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne

Dr Martin Vollmer, of EMPA the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology’s Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology

The voice of Alfred Goodman Levy was provided by Max Dowler

Featuring extracts from Dr Edmond ‘Ted’ Eger’s Living History of Anaesthesiology interview, courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology. woodlibrarymuseum.org

Open Drop Ether Anaesthesia audio courtesy of the Wellcome Library.

You can find more information about the risks of anaesthesia from the website of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, www.RCOA.ac.uk

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com