EFFECT OF AN ANÆSTHETIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23686, 19 December 1938, Page 11

EFFECT OF AN ANÆSTHETIC

WILD CONDUCT CONVULSIVE AND VIOLENT REACTIONS (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Nov. 14. Mr J. L. O. Tilley, a dentist, describes in The Lancet the very extraordinary conduct of a male patient, 63 years of age, under an anaesthetic. This man, of pleasant and cheerful dispostion, underwent several minor dental operations—in which various forms or anaesthetics were administered. This is what happened: In the first operation the patient put his feet through the window of the surgery.

In the second no operation could be performed, as the patient found himself on the floor.

In the third he bit through the watch chain of the anaesthetist, who declined to administer a second anaesthetic.

In the fourth operation he broke the harness made to hold him on the operating table. In the fifth the dentist was confined to bed for four days to recover from injuries received. "Before I operated," writes the dentist," I was given the most insistent warning about his behaviour, and advised for my own benefit to verify and Investigate his past history and his reactions to anaesthetics. This I did, with the result that I engaged four strong male- nurses. " On June 29 I operated at a nursing home, and at 8.30 a.m., the operation over, the patient was peacefully lying in bed. "At 9 a.m. he started throwing himself about, and gradually became more and more violent. He struggled and fought with the four male nurses and attempted to bite anyone or anything, at the same time making incoherent noises.

"The only posisble way to keep him on the bed was to pass folded sheets over his chest and thighs and round the bed rails for one hour and a-half. during which time the assistants exercised the greatest vigilrnce. At about 1.15 p.m. the patient asked for a chop, which he ate with avidity, and seemed to be as physically fit as on the previous day, with no signs of exhaustion or fatigue. "On August 31 I had to extract more teeth, and only evipan was administered. The same convulsive and violent reactions followed, which mieht aptly be described as ' demoniacal.' It is mv own and the anaesthetist's considered opinion that the patient's abnormal behfivlpur cannot be attributed to a neurotic disposition or to exhibitionism, as he actually did painful things to himself. "In case of accident the patient has promised to carry with him a history of his behaviour unde r all kinds of snaesthetics. which on the occasions of their administration have proved nearly fatal."