Experimental, innovative surgeon Dr William Russ Pugh executed an incredible medical act in Launceston in 1847.
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Dr Pugh, originally from England, arrived Hobart in 1835, before making his way to Launceston.
West Tamar historian and retired anaesthetist Dr John Paull wrote the biography Not Just An Anaesthetist – The Remarkable Life of Dr William Russ Pugh MD. It took Dr Paull eight years to research and write the publication. Dr Paull said Dr Pugh at one stage had 17 lawsuits out against him.
The Examiner played an important role in maintaining and defending the doctor’s reputation, as now-defunct publication The Cornwall Chronicle seemed to wage an attempted character assassination against the doctor.
“[The Chronicle was] actively opposed to him, or seeking to damage him,” Dr Paull said.
“[The Examiner] played a very important role, it was largely his principal defence against the accusations of a group of local doctors, supported by [William Lushington] Goodwin [The Chronicle’s editor].
“There was a lot of professional jealousy in Launceston at the time and there were doctors who thought Pugh was probably a bit above himself.”
The tumultuous time for Dr Pugh, defined by litigation, occurred in the early 1840s. Dr Paull’s biography noted that “The Examiner’s effort to pour oil on the stormy waters was commendable but seemingly fruitless”.
Dr Pugh maintained high medical standards, and even refused to consult with doctors he considered unqualified. On June 7, 1847, Dr Pugh completed the first successful anaesthesia for a surgical operation in Australia, after replicating an inhalation device he saw in a London newspaper.
He successfully administered sulphuric ether to two patients on that day, in the presence of the editor of The Examiner at the time, James Aikenhead. Two days later, an impressed Aikenhead published his own account of observing the procedure in the newspaper.
The surgery occurred at St John’s Hospital, a private hospital run by Dr Pugh and Dr James Grant, nine days after reading a news article about ether. On the same day in Sydney, a dentist gave the first anaesthetic for a dental operation, Dr Paull said.
“There must have been a lot of relief among the community that if you did need surgery, you could at least be made oblivious of the pain … but that aspect wasn’t highlighted in the newspapers of the day,” he said.
Dr Pugh lived in an historic home on the corner of St John and Frederick streets. A statue of Dr Pugh was erected in Prince’s Square, across from his former home in 1997, the 150th anniversary of his first anaesthetic.
He maintained a hospital at a small cottage on Balfour Street, before going on to establish St John’s Hospital in Charles Street.
Not only was Dr Pugh a skilled medic, but he was involved in many other endeavours. He was a founding member of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1843. Dr Pugh was a founding trustee of Launceston Church Grammar School. Dr Pugh left Launceston in 1854 to move to Melbourne. He died in London in 1897, aged 91.