Intubation of the larynx / by F. E. Waxham.

  • Waxham, F. E. (Frank Endoras), 1852-1911
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intubation of the larynx / by F. E. Waxham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    ness of the ideal physician, he responded to the pathetic appeal for help in a case of diphtheritic croup. Within three days he was taken with the disease in its most dangerous form, which quickly proved fatal. The inexpressibly sad termination of these lives should teach us the lesson of self-pro- tection. A vial of nitrite of amyl should always be at hand, as suggested to me by Dr. D. S. Clark, of Rock- ford, not only when the tube is introduced, but when removed as well. If a patient is moribund, it will have a powerful effect upon the heart, and will be of great assistance in resuscitating the patient. It may be unnecessary to state, in this day of antisep- tic surgery, that the physician should be particularly careful to thoroughly disinfect not only the instru- ments, but his hands as well. He who performs this operation upon a diphtheritic patient and hastens to a case of confinement without this precaution is guilty of a negligence that will very likely cost a woman her life. The tubes and other instruments should be disinfected with 95 per cent carbolic acid, and then cleansed with boiling water, while the hands may be disinfected with either a strong solu- tion of carbolic acid or bi-chloride of mercury. The scrubbing brush should be used freely, and the nails thoroughly cleaned. The bi-chloride of mercury solution should not be used for disinfecting the instruments, as it destroys the plating.