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...

Chloroform could stop patients breathing if you accidentally gave too much, but could it also cause the heart to suddenly stop beating? John Snow thought it did, but doctors in Scotland disagreed. Through the second half of the 19th century, the commissions and committees that investigated chloroform’s risks would chase an answer around the world, to India. And the results would be controversial. Featuring: Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and former Laureate of the Wood...

Chloroform's ease of use and lack of side effects compared to ether made it an attractive choice for doctors and patients, but as its use spread across the country, doctors and dentists using it would discover it could have sinister consequences both for their patients, and for themselves, and questions about its safety would set Edinburgh against London in an argument about its use. Featuring: Dr Sophie Boles, trainee anaesthetist, London Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and...

Now ether anaesthesia had been discovered, how were doctors going to use it? And what was the experience like for the patients? As doctors struggled to get to grips with this new discovery, they'd look for solutions to some of ether's problems and an answer would come from an Edinburgh obstetrician. Featuring: Dr Monica Walker, Front of House and Engagement Manager at The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett. www.oldoperatingtheatre.com Dr Christine Ball, Consultant Anaesthetist,...

Horace Wells' nitrous oxide demonstration had been a disaster, but in it an old colleague would see opportunity. A second demonstration of painless surgery would have an altogether different outcome, would turn colleagues into rivals, and would make people wonder what it really means to lay claim to a discovery. Featuring: Dr Warren Zapol MD, Reginald Jenney Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and Former Chief of Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital,...

How does surgery with anaesthesia today compare to surgery without it? And how did we discover that breathing in gas could relieve the pain of an amputation? In the mid 19th century, scientists were discovering new gases, and new ways to experiment with them, but the origins of anaesthesia don't lie in a science lab or a hospital, but in recreational drug use and dentists and doctors getting high on their own supply.  Featuring: Dr Warren Zapol MD, Reginald Jenney Professor of Anaesthesia...

Ether/Or is about the discovery of anaesthesia, and all its advantages. But it's also about the many problems that came with it. From failed attempts to fatal consequences, the introduction of anaesthesia in 1846 was a major leap forward for medicine and surgery. But it forced doctors and patients to grapple with the many new questions it raised. What did it mean to lay claim to a discovery? What if the pain of surgery was beneficial? And what if the anaesthetic was deadly? It's tempting to...