The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-27
SHEPARD'S SAD DEATH.
TIE DOCTORS TELL THE STORY
OF THEIR WORK.

A Careful Examination Previous TO
the Administration of the Ether
Failed to Disclose Any Disease
Which Would Interfere With Proper
Performance of the Operation-How
He sank to His Death.
NEW Y DIRK. March 26.-At the special
request of Chauncey NJ. Depew and the
members Of the family of the late Elliott f.
Shepard, Drs. Charles MoBurney and James
McLane tonight gave out the following
statement for publication: ain con-
sequence Of the many misstatements that
have been made in the public
press, in regard to the case Of the late Ell
liott F. Shepard, the undersigned, at the
request Of his family and many friends,
have consented to make the following state
ment: ION Friday afternoon, March "a,
we met at Col. Shepard's house for the pur-.
pose of making thorough examination
under ether of his bladder, and we proposed,
il practicable, to remove the stone which
1t contained. The presence of the
stone had been determined at two careful
examinations, made Feb. "a and March 9.
These were conducted without an anes-
thetic. and gave the patient some pain.
Between Feb. "a and March "a several ex-
aminatlons of the urine were made, but no
evidence of any organic disease of the kid
ney was found. His heart and lungs
proved to be healthy, and after a
careful examination the existence of
any disease, fuch as might interfere
with proper performance of the proposed
Fuh vun nA 81
Shepard's own request until March 24 was
not disclosed. We especially instructed him
to eat very lightly at an early hour on the
day OF the proposed operation and to take
no food afterward. AT 1890 o'clock when
we found him in his study he was appar-
emily 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 preparations which had been
made for 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 desired at least as careful treat
ment as hospital patient. He preferred
to take the ether on the operating table
rather than on his bed. About II AS o'clock
the administration of the ether was COM
menced. It was explained to him that by
taking full Inspirations and not Offering any
resistance he would come more rapidly un-
der the influence of the auesthetic and for
few minutes ne inhaled the ether uncommon
ly well, his breathing being full and free His
color now changed somewhat and it was
apparent that he was nauseated. In an1
other moment he vomted. After this his
color vas better, but as his respirations
were not satisfactory nor bis pulse. further
administration Of the anRsthetio was dis
continued. As yet not enough ether had
been given to admit of proceeding with the
proposed operation. All our efforts were
now directed to occurring proper respiratory
action. As usual in all cases where the
respiration is not perfectly satisfactory, the
breathing continuing very labored, an ex-
animation was made of the
larynx to discover whether possibly
some particle of food had lodged in
IL, but such proved not TO be the case The
patients condition was now so alarming as
to call for extreme measures, and in the
hope that the symptoms might be due
to the presence 10 the wind-pipe Of vomited
material, accidentally inhaled, the opera
tion OF tracheotomy, or opening of the wind
pipe, was performed. No foreign material
Of any kind was found, and we even passed
rubber tube down the wtnd-pipe and into
the bronchial tubes, making use of pow
., AuA NspAA oCAhB sSfiuso "ibnout discovering
the presence of anything but bloody mucus.
In the meantime several careful examtna-
tions were made of the lungs and sounds
were heard such as indicate oedema of
these organs. Oxygen had been previously
sent for and under its influence the patient
slightly revived. Artificial respiratlons
and every other means which might posi-
bly, give relief was resorted to- From this
time on his breathing became even more
EN- barrassed, but still artificial resniratiOn
was continually kept up although his pulse
became steadily more feeble. He sank rap
idly into unconsciousness. and in spite Of
all efforts died at 4:l0 o'clock. In our
opinion Col. Shepard died of sudden oedema
and congestion Of the lungs, following the
administration OF the ether, but primarily
due to some cause unknown to us.i'