To the Editor: The entertaining history of Sydney Hospital by Kappagoda1 illustrates the risk of accepting local lore as fact. The assertions that Sydney Hospital “hosted the first operation [in Australia] under general anaesthetic” and that it was “a leg amputation under chloroform” are both incorrect.
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- 1. Kappagoda A. We’ll drink to that: the 200th anniversary of Australia’s oldest hospital. Med J Aust 2012, 196: 77-78. <MJA full text>
- 2. Anon. St John’s Hospital — surgical operations — the influence of ether. Launceston Examiner 1847; 9 Jun: 370. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/36252255/3613004 (accessed Jan 2012).
- 3. Mr Hooper’s ether inhaler. Illustrated London News 1847; 9 Jan: 30.
- 4. The painless surgery excitement. Sydney Morning Herald 1847; 28 Jun: p. 2, c. 3. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/4091116 (accessed Jan 2012).
- 5. Anon. The medical men at Launceston. Sydney Morning Herald 1847; 24 Jun: p. 3, c. 6. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1514842 (accessed Jan 2012).
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