Medical Field

Research a current innovator in the medical field. Explain what this person’s contributions to the field are, and why these contributions are important or significant.

Anesthesia

Imagine that you have to have an operation soon, but your doctor said, “I am sorry, we not have anesthesia today.” What would you think? Would you finish it without anesthesia? I think no one wants to do that because anesthesia is so indispensable for us. Anesthesia was named by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846.1 Anesthesia is so important for us, and in this field there was another man who invented it. In 1846, William Morton, who was an America dentist, was the first person to hocus a patient with a gas called ether. During the operation, the patient fell asleep and felt no pain when Morton extracted his tooth.2 Morton was the first man who invented and used anesthesia in the world.

His contribution was huge. Moreover, why is this contribution significant? According to Oliver Wendell Holmes, “anesthesia means that after a patient inhaled ether, he will be unresponsive during a surgical procedure.” However, before humans invented anesthesia, people had to suffer pain during surgery. You can just imagine the example I mentioned in the beginning, surgery without anesthesia is really hard for both doctors and patients. Nowadays, anesthesia has four main types,3 and your doctor will choose one of them for you when you are having surgery. In conclusion, William Morton really gave a great contribution in his field, and this contribution is very important for humans. Thanks for this great boon to humanity.

1. Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the term “anesthesia” in 1846 to describe drug-induced insensibility to sensation (particularly pain), shortly after the first publicized demonstration of inhaled ether rendered a patient unresponsive during a surgical procedure. 2. In the 1846, an America dentist named William Morton was the first person to anesthetize a patient, using a gas called ether. The patient fell asleep and felt no pain while Morton extracted his rotten tooth.

3. Local: numbs one small area of the body. You stay awake and alert. Conscious or intravenous (IV) sedation: uses a mild sedative to relax you and pain medicine to relieve pain. You stay awake but may not remember the procedure afterwards. Regional anesthesia: blocks pain in an area of the body, such an arm or leg. Epidural anesthesia, which is sometimes used during childbirth, is a type of regional anesthesia. General anesthesia: affects your whole body. You go to sleep and feel nothing. You have no memory of the procedure afterwards.

Works cited:
1. Vargo, Mari, and Laurie Blass. Pathways. 3thrd ed. Boston: National Geographic Learning, 2012. 164-165. Print. 2. Medline Plus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/anesthesia.html) 3. Scientific American (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-does-anesthesia-work)