General AnesthesiaIn the early 1800s, before the use of anesthesia, many patients with life-threatening problems forewent surgery and chose the permanent path to death instead than undergoing a painful and emotionally scarring procedure such as surgery before anesthesia. When surgeries took place, they were performed on upper floors of hospitals so that other patients could not hear the screams. More than 8,000 anesthesia-free operations have been performed in the Ether Dome at Mass General Hospital, the birthplace of the first “painless” surgery (Mass General). On October 16, 1846, the world of surgery changed forever. The surgical removal of a tumor in a man's neck took place in the Ether Dome at Mass General Hospital. The surgeon was the world-renowned doctor John Warren. Before Doctor Warren could slit the man's neck, William TJ Morten, a dentist, ran into the room. He presented a bag filled with a gas called Ether and swore that it could erase all of the patient's pain. He had tested this gas on himself, his dog and his goldfish. Dr. John Warren gave him permission to try this relatively untested gas on his patient. For the first time in surgical history, the Ether Dome remained silent throughout the entire operation. No screaming, no beating and no strong men to hold the patient down (Decoding The Void). Soon, doctors around the world were using general anesthesia, and history was made. Now let's see what general anesthesia actually is. General anesthesia makes you both unconscious and unable to feel pain during medical procedures. A study by a team from Harvard Medical School, Weill Cornell Medical College and Massachusetts Ins...... middle of paper ...... place it on any floor of a hospital and constitutes a much less dangerous event. Thanks to a dentist and his goldfish, people around the world can receive medical treatment and not come away emotionally scarred for the rest of their lives. Works Cited “Massachusetts General Hospital.” The Ether Dome at general mass. Np, and Web. May 14, 2014. “Decoding the void. " Medicine. Np, and Web. May 14, 2014. “General anesthesia.” Definition. Np, and Web. May 15, 2014. Freeman, Shanna. “How anesthesia works.” How things work. HowStuffWorks.com, April 1, 2000. Web. May 15, 2014. Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, nd Web. May 15, 2014. “General anesthesia.” General anesthesia. Np, and Web. May 14, 2014. “Anesthesia Awareness Fact Sheet.” » Anesthesia awareness fact sheet. Np, and Web. May 15, 2014. Landau, Elizabeth. CNN. Cable News Network, May 17, 2010. Web. May 15 2014.