Not-so-poison pen | |
A venomous life. Struan Sutherland. Melbourne: Hyland House Publishing 1998 (xii + 385 pp.). ISBN: 1 86447 026 7. |
Professor Struan Sutherland
is well known in the world of Australian medicine, particularly through the pages of the Journal. He is a toxinologist of world renown, whose personality, like his discoveries and inventions, has touched the lives of many Australians. Sutherland pioneered many of the new snake antivenoms, the first funnel-web spider antivenoms, the study of ant venoms and the practical management of first aid techniques for the envenomation victims of many Australian creatures. His discoveries and influence have modified the medical practice of envenomation management in Australia and have changed first aid practices and prehospital care techniques in Australia and elsewhere. His textbooks and scientific papers have justly been regarded as the "gold standard" of much of the biology of Australian venomous creatures. This autobiography, long awaited, is an important contribution to the chronological record of Australian medicine, and to the history of clinical toxinology in particular. In early 1996, the workaholic machine that is Struan Sutherland was diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease. In May 1996 he was further diagnosed as having striato-nigral degeneration, a more severe form of the disease which affects writing and speech. With the indomitable courage typical of Sutherland's professional life, this was the trigger for the focused documentation of an autobiography which will stand as one of the significant personal records in the history of Australian biology. His story, told with his characteristic quirky humour, is reader-friendly in the extreme. Sutherland is famous (many would say "infamous") for his total forthrightness in all his interpersonal dealings. His "this is as it was" candour reflects in print the personality which has touched many thousands throughout his professional life. Childhood experiences are here, including the chilling account of his near-drowning and fortuitous rescue as a child in Bondage. There are hilarious accounts of his time as a surgeon in the Royal Australian Navy and the first-hand account of his development, as a pioneer in evidence-based medicine, of the new techniques which were to revolutionise the treatment of snakebite. These culminated in 1979 when the Australian Resuscitation Council and its member bodies changed their recommendations for the treatment of envenomation as a direct consequence of his work. Today, one in 170 Australians complete a first aid course each year; all are taught the drills and skills that Sutherland developed during his time at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. This is one of the best autobiographies by a doctor-scientist that I have read. His puckish face looks out from the cover, and within the text are the writings and descriptions, some hilarious, some tragic, which have shaped the professional life of this singular doctor. I can imagine doctors, biologists, naturalists, medical administrators and many snakebite survivors delighting in the vibrancy and immediacy of this work, making it excellent value for money and for history. John Pearn
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