Twilight Sleep'' Made by the Giessen Method

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Twilight Sleep'' Made by the Giessen Method MORPHINE-^ / »^-r...4' y-^o Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School http://www.archive.org/details/scopolaminemorphOOvanh Scopolamine - Morphine Anaesthesia BY BERTHA VAN HOOSEN, M.A., M.D. Attending Gynaecologist to Cook County Hospital, Prcvident Hospital and Mary Thompson Hospital. Member of The American Medical Association, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Medical Society, Etc. AND A Psychological Study of ^^ Twilight Sleep'' Made by the Giessen Method BY ELISABETH ROSS SHAW Consulting Psychologist THE HOUSE OF MANZ CHICAGO /3^i^Ci/7i. f'^^ Copyright 1915 by Bertha Van Hoosen, M. D. Published February, 1915 Printed in United States of America By Manz Engraving Company, Chicago CONTENTS PAGE Preface 9 Chapter I Introduction 15 Chapter II Pharmacology, Toxicology and Physiological Action 19 Chapter III Administration for Surgical Anaesthesia 29 Chapter IV Administration for Obstetrical Anaesthesia 39 Chapter V Typical and Atypical Cases 43 Chapter VI Report of 5,000 Morphine-Scopolamine Anaesthesiae 55 Chapter VII Report of 100 Consecutive Cases of "Twilight Sleep" at the Mary Thomp- son Hospital, from June 1 to December 1, 1914 85 Chapter VIII The Mental Effects of "Twilight Sleep" by Elisabeth Ross Shaw 103 Chapter IX Bibliography Compiled from the Crerar Library 185 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Frontispiece—Alice Amelia Hagerman, born June 3, 1914. Plate I—Sectional Delivery Bed ( Closed) 32 Plate II—Sectional Delivery Bed {Open) 32 Plate III—Bed with Screen Adjusted 40 Plate IV—Bed with Canvas Partially Adjusted 40 Plate V—Bed with Canvas Adjusted Forming a Crib 48 Plate VI—Patient in Crib Bed Ready for Examination 48 Plate VII—Bed Disjointed and Preparation for Delivery 64 Plate VIII—Preparations for Delivery Complete Except Sterile Covers... 64 Plate IX—Sterile Covers and Gyn. Sheet Applied 72 Plate X—Obstetric Envelope Opened 72 Plate XI—Obstetric Envelope {Front View) 80 Plate XII—Obstetric Envelope {Back Fietv) 80 Plate XIII—Gown with Continuous Sleeve 88 Plate XIV—Gown with Continuous Sleeve Behind Neck 88 Plate XV—Van Hoosen Method of Deepening Respiration or Awakening Patient 96 TO MY SISTER : PREFACE T the Tri-State Medical Society, which was held at Des Moines, October 13 and 14, 1914, I read a paper the content of which is embodied in this little book. It provoked much discussion and was adversely criticized by many physicians who had had no personal experience in the use of this anaesthesia. On the following Sunday the Des Moines "Register and Leader" gave a full report of the paper and discussion. This was criticized by Dr. Hutchins of Des Moines on the following day. In reply. Dr. Arthur J. Booker wrote the following "It is less from a desire to enter a controversy than to come to the rescue of my friend. Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, that I reply in this manner to the genial, and in some re- spects, so far as 'twilight sleep' is concerned, correct Dr. Hutchins. "Those who think Dr. Van Hoosen's enthusiasm over morphine and scopolamine to have begun with McClure's magazine are all amiss. Eight years ago I had the oppor- tunity as an interne to see the doctor use this method for a year and a half. About three years ago she used it here in a big clinic, with excellent result, as characterizes her work. She is one of the many competent surgeons to stick PREFACE by this method and prove its worth, as is necessary with any new proposition. "This method of anaesthesia is based upon sound surgical principles, which have been made very definite, by no less eminent surgeon and philosopher than Dr. George Crile of Cleveland, who is the world authority upon anoci- association. It has the indorsement of Bloodgood and a coterie of men who are lights in surgery. As Dr. Hutchins well stated, it has been used for years by men who pretend to keep up with advances in medicine, and no fuss was made about it. 'Twilight babies' have been born all over the country for years and nothing was said about it, because most men are more concerned to meet conditions and get results than to deal with names. "Now let us make a brief analysis: If this anaesthetic is a good thing in a large clinic such as Crile has, as Bloodgood is furnished with, and we will say, for sake of argument, as Dr. Van Hoosen claims—leaving out other examples—what is the objection to its use in obstetrics? Some men lay great stress on the occasional asphyxiated babies; but the most hostile critics do not claim that these same babies do not grow up to make third grade. After any anaesthetic, used for a period long enough to make the mother unconscious, we expect more or less asphyxia. Every well equipped obstetric bag is furnished to meet this condition, even by 10 PREFACE men who do not use this method, and before it was used. No one has discovered that a little asphyxia hurt the child. ''Whether it be ether, chloroform, scopolamine or any one of the various anaesthetics which is used, nothing is going to take the place of brains and judgment on the part of physicians. There are idiosyncrasies and contra-indications to nearly every drug we know and no anaesthetic is admin- istered without serious thought on the part of the attendant. "Dr. Van Hoosen needed no popular article to make her enthusiastic about a method she has used with striking suc- cess for ten years, as her pupils and those who attended her C,>_ clinic can attest. Quite the contrary to Dr. Hutchins' belief, scopolamine was never so popular as today. It is not a depressant to the circulatory apparatus; quite to the con- trary, it seems to stimulate the heart by its action on the vagus nerve. Men who give much choloroform or ether after the administration of scopolamine clearly prove that they do not understand the principles. It does not irritate the kidneys as do some other anesthetics, as may be proven by laboratory analysis. As for the milk, this is stimulated to flow because the mother has not been so exhausted and the flow of blood to the glands is better and the stimulation of nursing causes a better secretion as a result. If we depended on the Almighty to look after the milk entirely all the babies would be better off. 11 PREFACE "The depressing effect of this anaesthetic is almost nil, even when given in the full amount, as there is no time when the patient cannot be aroused; after the advent of labor the mother is usually in a refreshed condition. *'Dr. Van Hoosen did not take her own cases covering a period of years as the basis of her paper, but the last fifty cases in the Mary Thompson Hospital—where this anaesthetic is used—and the last fifty at the County Hospital, where it is not used. Her comparisons were rather those of a disinterested party than of an enthusiast. Her conclusions were fair. She thinks it is excellent, as do thousands of other physicians throughout the country; but in the final analysis it is a question for the attending man and not the patient to decide. "If the mothers live and the children do not die—and the most virulent critics admit this—it does not matter if the baby does not keep the neighbors awake the first night. "It took a queen to make chloroform popular; and since we have no queens in this country perhaps it depends upon the women physicians and the mothers to exercise their sovereignty.'' At the request of friends like Dr. Booker, and to fortify my position before my critics, I have been led to write my views and my experience with the anaesthetic so recently christened "Twilight Sleep." 12 PREFACE I am Indebted to Dr. Anna Handshaw and Dr. Josephine McCollum for statistics and collateral reading. Dr. McCollum has been special anaesthetist to Mary Thomp- son Hospital for many years and was the first to administer It In the Gynaecological Clinic In the Illinois State Medical School. Dr. Handshaw administered It In the same clinic for a period of eight years. She also wrote the chapter on "Pharmacology, Toxicology and Physiological Action." Both have given valuable suggestions and opinions for other chapters. Drs. McCollum and Handshaw were experts In chloro- form and ether anaesthesia before giving any attention to scopolamlne-morphlne anaesthesia. Dr. Pearlle Mae Stettler has compiled the Bibliography and Drs. Mulcahy, Ackerman and Gardner have given valuable assistance In developing the present method of Twilight Sleep Delivery at the Mary Thompson Hospital during their obstetric service. Dr. Maud Ethrldge, Miss Jane Parmlee and Miss Clara Stuart have contributed many hours' work In collect- ing records. The 5,000 cases reported Include nearly all of my operations during the past ten years, with operations by Drs. Mary GUruth McEwen, Mary Jeanette Kearsley, Clara Ferguson, Bertha Bush and Nora Johnson. 13 PREFACE Without the assistance of these women It would have been Impossible to produce this report. I take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of their work. Bertha Van Hoosen. 32 North State Street, Chicago. 14 Scopolamine- Morphine Anaesthesia CHAPTER I Introduction .^N the Fall of 1904 I saw Dr. Emil Rics of "" Chicago use scopolamlne-morphlne anaesthesia in (m his clinic. It was the first time that I had ever seen a patient under any anaesthesia except chloroform, ether or gas. I was then using continuous gas anaesthesia with great success, but the enormous expense attached to the gas anaesthesia, together with the necessity of having for an assistant a person who was not only trained to administer It, but who was also of an alert and self-reliant disposition, made me ever ready to take up something more practical as soon as It could be found.
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