Cloroformo y muerte/Death and chloroform

Sobre los casos fatales de inhalación de cloroformo  On the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform By John Snow, M.D. (Read at the Westminster Medical Society, March 31, 1849) Snow, John.Edinburgh Med. & Surg. Jour., vol. 72, July 1,1849, pp. 75-87. Soon after the introduction of the inhalation of ether, two or three cases occurred in which it was rumoured that fatal effects had followed the practice; and in one case, that of Mrs Parkinson at Grantham, a coroner's jury returned a verdict to that effect, without much inquiry; the cause of death being taken for granted by the coroner in his charge. However, as the physiological effects of ether became generally known to the profession, it became evident that these deaths, which occurred two or three days after severe operations, could not be attributed to the inhalation. I know only one case where death was occasioned by the inhalation of ether.* (* See Gazette Medicale, Mars 4, 1848.) This occurred in France, and the process was continued for ten minutes, without intermission, although alarming symptoms existed a considerable part of that time, and the result was probably as much due to defective admission of air, as to the influence of the vapour. http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/fatalcaseschloroform.html     Muerte y anestesia  ANAESTHESIA AND DEATH DOUGLAS GEBBIE, M.B., CH.B. MUCH INTEREST has been shown in deaths associated with anaesthesia by both the profession and lay public ever since Hannah Greener died on induction with chloroform in 1848.1 This first reported death occurred within eighteen months of the introduction of anaesthesia to clinical medicine. Certain sections of the medical profession have always been ready to attribute these unfortunate occurrences to therapeutic misadventure. Happily, others have been anxious to look further and seek more rational explanations. http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF03002181.pdf  La vida breve y trágica de Robert M. Glober  The short, tragic life of Robert M. Glover. Defalque RJ, Wright AJ. Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 619 19th Street South, JT 965, Birmingham, AL 35249-6810, USA. Anaesthesia. 2004 Apr;59(4):394-400. Abstract Robert Mortimer Glover (1815-1859) was a contemporary of John Snow and James Young Simpson. Although he did not reach the standing of those two giants, his researches, writings and lectures were important contributions to the early development of British anaesthesia. Glover was the first to explore the physiological action of chloroform in the laboratory and to discover its anaesthetic effect in 1842. He helped Sir John Fife in Hannah Greener's autopsy in January 1848 and influenced Fife's conclusions on the cause of the young girl's death. His numerous and extensive articles reviewing the history, chemistry, pharmacology and clinical applications of various anaesthetics were widely read and quoted by his colleagues, including John Snow. While in Edinburgh and Newcastle, Glover was recognised as a remarkably astute physician, original researcher, prolific writer and enthusiastic lecturer with an enormous knowledge of medicine, the physical sciences, mathematics and philosophy. His brilliant career deteriorated after his arrival in London and, especially, after his return from the Crimea, although he continued to publish until the week before his death. The causes of his decline remain obscure. The last year of his life was ruined by his addiction to chloroform, to whose development he had contributed so much, and which killed him at the early age of 43. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2044.2004.03671.x/pdf     Atentamente Anestesiología y Medicina del Dolor www.anestesia-dolor.org