Operations And Operating Rooms In 18-19 Centuries

Fanny Burney is a woman who has accepted Mastectomy in 18 centuries. Savage, horror, bloody, inhumane, describing the surgery in the pre-anesthesia era is appropriate.

In 1811, the British novelist Fanny Burney (1752-1842) suffered from breast cancer. In France, military surgeon Dominique Jean Laray performed mastectomy on Fanny Burney. She was very lucky to survive. The operation was very cruel. She underwent mastectomy without any anesthesia. Later, she recalled this extremely torturous experience: “Yet — when the dreadful steel was plunged into the breast — cutting through veins — arteries — flesh — nerves — I needed no injunctions not to restrain my cries. I began a scream that lasted unintermittingly during the whole time of the incision — and I almost marvel that it rings not in my Ears still! ”At the end, the surgery took a full 20 minutes, but it saved her life.

At the beginning of the 19th century, there was no effective way to treat cancer. The cause and substance of cancer was also very confusing. As about Fanny Burney in the text, the surgeon will attempt to remove the tumor only when it is a last resort, the disease has spread, and there are obvious symptoms.

The pain of surgery is something that modern people cannot imagine and bear. More than 80% people cannot survive after the surgery. Fanny Burney was taken a good care by the doctor, nurse and other people before and after the surgery. When she knew that she need to take surgery, she feels scared, upset and nervous. However, the relative and neighbors gave her encouragement and support.

According to the video and research, Old Operating Theatre belongs to St. Thomas Hospital. The old operating room theatre is a theater-like operating room in St. Thomas Hospital. Before 1822, doctors could only perform surgery on women in the ward of the church, which was inconvenient. So the hospital decided to change the church's attic to a female operating room, and the theater was built to facilitate apprentice observation and surgery.

Before 1847, before the found of antibiotics and anesthetics, the surgeon at the time did not have a reliable way to make patients fall asleep, so they had to shorten the operation time as much as possible. An experienced doctor could complete a surgery in just one minute. The assistant surgeon at Thomas Hospital is expected to check more than 200 patients a day. Patients are often filthy before receiving treatment. Unsanitary conditions create a dangerous environment for people in the hospital. Many women have died from childbirth infections. The hospital is full of urine, vomit, and other fluids, which smells very disgusting. It is easy to see that there are lots of people control the patient from moving during the surgery. In addition to stench, fear also penetrates into the air. The crying of the patient who is preparing for surgery, the patients who die in the hospital bed are everywhere.

In this era, most operating rooms look similar. They are surrounded by a semi-circular stand, and a number of candles illuminate the scene. In the middle of the room is a wooden table, the so-called operating table, which is dyed with blood of various people. People watched the surgery around the operating table in the theatre. These people have never been disinfected and will not remain quiet. However, the environment in the old operating theatre are not good as we thought. Patients feel fear and pain.