St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-27
THE DOCTORS TALK.
Lengthy Statement of the Physi-
clans Who Attended Col.
Shepard.
They Say HIS Death Was Not Due
to the administration of
Ether.

New YORK, March 26.-At the special
request of DR.. Chauncey NJ. Depew and
the members of the family of the late
Elliot F. Shepard, Drs. McBurney and
McHale tonight gave out the following
statement for publication:
"In consequence Of the many mis-
statements that have been made i'll the
public press in regard to the case of the
late Elliot +. Shepard, the undersigned,
at the request of his family and many
friends. nave consented to make the
following statement:
son Friday afternoon, March "a, we
met at Col. Shepard'S house for the pur-
pose of making thorough exploration
under ether OF his bladder, and we pro-
posed, if practicable, to remove the
Stone it contained. The presence of the
stone had been determined at two care
full examinations made Oh Feb. "a and
March 9. These were conduct
ed without an an&sthetic, and
gave the patient some pain.
Between Feb. "A and March several
examinations of the urine were made,
but no evidence Of any organic disease
of the kidney was found. His heart
and lungs proved to be healthy, and
after careful examination the existence
of any disease was excluded such as
might interfere with the proper per-
formance Of the proposed operation,
which was postponed at Col. Shep-
ards own request until March 24.
We especially instructed him to
eat very lightly at an early hour on the
day of the proposed operation, and to
take no food afterwards At 1890
O'Clock when we found him in his study
he was apparently in good spirits, but
remarked that he felt little nervous
about the operation. He went up at
once to his bedroom, removed his
clothes, wrapped himself in his dressing
gown, looked about the room at
the seemingly elaborate prepara-
tions which had been made for the
operation and expressed surprise at
their detail. He was told that they re-
lated chiefly to surgical cleanliness, and
were no greater than he would find in a
good hospital, and that we thought he
deserved at least as careful treatment
as a hospital patient. lie pre-
ferred to take the ether on the
operating table rather than on the
bed AT about 12:45 the administration
of the ether was commenced. 1t was
explained TO him that by taking full in
spirations and not Offering any re-
sistance he would come more rapidly
under the influence of the an8sthetic,
and for a few minutes he inhaled the
ether uncommOnly well, his breathing
being full and free.
"His color now changed somewhat,
and it WAS apparent that he was
nauSeated. In another moment he
vomited. After this his color was bet
ter, but, as his respiratiOns were not
satisfactory, nor his pulse, the further
administration of the an3sthetic was
discontinued. As yet not enough
ether had been given to admit
of proceeding with the pro-
posed operation. The patients con-
dition was now so alarming as TO cal
for extreme measures. and in the hopesl
that the symptoms might be due to Il e
presence in the Windpipe of vOmited
matter, accidentally inhaled, the opera
ton of trach3OtOmy, or opening of the
windpipe, was performed. No foreign
material of any kind was found. Oxygen
had been previously sent for, and under
its influence the patient was
slightly revived. Artificial Tespird-
ton and several other methods
which might possibly give relief were
resorted to. From this time his breath
ing became often more embarrassing.
but still artificial respiration was con-
tinuously kept up, although his pulse
became steadily more feeble. He sank
rapidly into unconsciOusneSs, and, III
spite of all efforts, died at ten minutes
after 4 o'clock. In our opinion, Col.
Shepard died of sudden Gdema and
congestion of the lungs, following the
administration of ether. but prelimin-
arily due to some cause unknown 10 US.
JAMES w. MCLANE, Nj. ID.
CYRUS NJ. BURNEY, NJ, D."