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Sparrow Extermination, Lantern Shields, and More Terrible Plans in History

Khalid Elhassan May 26, 2021 36 min

Marchers during the Cultural Revolution. Los Angeles Times

Nineteenth-century surgery was a public spectacle. All That is Interesting

13. Dr. Liston Set Surgery Speed Records, but Also Set the Record for the Most People Killed in a Single Surgery

Dr. Robert Liston was famous for being able to perform surgeries in a matter of seconds and amputate a leg in just two and a half minutes. In what turned out to be a bad idea, he played up his reputation for speedy surgery for all it was worth. Surgeries back then were spectator events, with galleries surrounding operating rooms for observers to watch what was going on. As he brandished his cutting tools, Dr. Liston often shouted to the audience “time me, gentlemen!” It became his catchphrase. Unsurprisingly, operating at such speeds meant that the odds of mishaps were high.

During one leg amputation surgery, Dr. Liston accidentally severed the fingers off the hand of an assistant who was holding down the patient’s leg. Liston continued with the job and took off the patient’s leg. Both patient and assistant got gangrene and died within a few days. In his frenzied slicing, Dr. Liston also accidentally cut an elderly spectator’s coat. The old man was not hurt, but he was splattered with blood from patient’s amputated leg and the medical assistant’s severed fingers. The elderly spectator thought that he had been wounded, panicked, and suffered a fatal heart attack.

Also Read: Unbelievable and Gruesome Facts about 19th Century Surgery.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.