The Cortland
Democrat, Friday, July 29, 1887.
PATIENT BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE.
A Remarkable Surgical Operation Performed in
Buffalo.
BUFFALO, N. Y., July
23, 1887.--One of the most remarkable operations in medical history was
performed here to-day, resulting in bringing an apparently dead man back to
life or as near as such a thing can be done by human power. Indeed the doctors
had obtained points for the death certificate, sent for the minister, had in
fact made all the arrangements in such an event, except seeing the undertaker,
when it was resolved to try a desperate remedy. To-night the patient is out of
danger.
Patrick
Burns, a bookkeeper for a firm on Carroll street, took an overdose of opium at
his home, 49 Morgan street, last night. Toward evening he seemed to be
breathing with much difficulty, and Dr. George Fell was sent for. The man was
practically dead when it was decided to open the windpipe, insert a tube, and
keep up artificial respiration. The operation was performed by Dr. Fell, with
the assistance of Drs. F. R. Campbell and L. D. McMichael. At noon the man was
still alive and in much improved, though critical condition.
Burns had
been drinking heavily the last few days and when taking his usual dose of opium
made a mistake and took too much. During the afternoon the patient recovered
consciousness, recognized his friends and was able to ask for what he wanted.
If the operation could have been performed sooner there would have been no
doubt [of] his recovery, but Dr. Fell was not called until the patient had been
unconscious for two hours.
This is the
first time the experiment of tracheae and pumping air into it from a tube
connected with a bellows has ever been tried, and will cause a revolution in
the treatment of cases with opium poisoning. "He was about gone," said Dr.
Campbell, "when Dr. Fell thought of using the bellows by which animals are kept
alive during vivisection. We made an insertion of the tracheae, introduced a
tube, and then used the bellows. The effect was noticed at once, and he began
to revive. At 2 0’clock he was out of danger. This operation was the first of
the kind, we believe."
"Then if
this treatment is followed morphine poisoning will not be fatal?"
"That is
what Dr. Fell and I think."
"And what
is the theory?"
"Simply keeping
the lungs filled with oxygen. That is all that is necessary in any case of this
character. We think it quite a discovery," modestly concluded the doctor.
I
Thought I Would Choke.
[advertisement in Cortland Democrat]
I had
asthma a year, with violent wheezing; could not lie down; thought I would
choke. Thanks to Tutt’s Expectorant I am free from these attacks and sleep well
at night. Arthur F. McCoy.
Renews Her Youth.
[advertisement in Cortland Democrat]
Mrs. Vassal Chesley Peterson, Clay Co. Iowa, tells the following
remarkable story, the truth of which is vouched for by the residents of the town:
"I am 73 years old, have been troubled with kidney complaint and lameness for many
years; could not dress myself without help. Now I am free from all pain and soreness
and am able to do all my own housework. I owe my thanks to Electric Bitters for having renewed my youth, and removed
completely all disease and pain. Try a bottle, 50c, and $1. At Brown a Maybury’s Drug
Store.
Dr.
George Fell, Critical Care and Resuscitation,
December 2007: http://www.cicm.org.au/journal/2007/december/ccr_09_4_1207_377_trubuhovich.pdf
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