The practice of anæsthetics / by Rowland W. Collum. General surgical technique / by H. M. W. Gray ; edited by James Cantlie.

  • Collum, Rowland W. (Rowland William)
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The practice of anæsthetics / by Rowland W. Collum. General surgical technique / by H. M. W. Gray ; edited by James Cantlie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    operation a success by choosing a drug and a mode of administration which will be most convenient for the surgeon ; but he must never allow this second con- sideration to supersede his primary duty towards the patient, which is to steer the latter through his period of unconsciousness with safety, and to cause him the least possible amount Oi ill-effects afterwards. If the surgeon insists upon a method which the anaesthetist knows from experience will endanger the life of the patient, it becomes his duty to retire from the case, unless he be in a subordinate position ; under which circumstances the surgeon must take full responsi- bility. In the present day, however, surgeons almost always leave the matter entirely in the hands of the anaesthetist, after stating in a general way what their requirements may be in any special case. There is nevertheless one important exception to this : viz., the position in which the patient's arms are to be fixed. The safest position for avoiding paralysis is straight along the sides of the body, and this is where the anaesthetist should place them. If that position be inconvenient to the surgeon, the latter must take the responsibility of having it altered in accordance with his requirements ; and he must not blame the anjes- thetist if the musculo-spiral nerve gets injured.
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