Association of Anaesthetists
Modern anaesthesia is a well established medical specialism provided by highly trained doctors with high standards of patient safety. Historically, that was not always so. In the early twentieth century, anaesthesia was not well respected; anaesthetists were poorly paid and many GPs and surgeons would give anaesthetics to patients as a ‘sideline’. Patient safety was not good in those days. Then along came Dr Henry Featherstone.
Born near Birmingham Henry qualified in medicine from Cambridge and Birmingham Universities in 1916. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, and saw service during some of the worst fighting in the First World War.
After the War Featherstone became a physician anaesthetist and was appointed consultant anaesthetist at the Birmingham General Hospital in 1926. In 1930 Featherstone became President of the Anaesthetic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, at the time the most prestigious position in British anaesthesia.