Robert Liston—“The Surgeon with the Fastest Knife”

Abstract

In modern times, it is difficult to imagine surgery being done without anaesthesia on an awake, restrained, wailing patient. But there were times when this was the norm and it was imperative that the surgeon be swift and precise in his work, to cause the minimum possible pain and blood loss to the patient. Robert Liston was such a master surgeon who operated with lightning speed and such skill that not only saved many a life, but the postoperative complications like infection were also less in comparison to other surgeons. His speed also resulted in some bizarre operative events that earned him ridicule in surgical history. Not only was he a good surgeon, but also a man who designed many instruments still used in surgical practice today; he wrote books and was an avid reader of evolving advances and also performed the first surgery under anaesthesia in Europe too. Even though described in medical textbooks as “crude, loud, abrasive, insensitive, and brutally rough” on his trainees and colleagues, Liston’s “hard as iron” hand in the operating room did a remarkable job of saving lives and as such his work and skill needs to be recognized and appreciated.