James Smith

James Anstruther Smith FFARCS (1917 – 18 December 1986) was a Scottish consultant anaesthetist who was one of the pioneers of safe anaesthesia for cardiac catheterization in children.

Education James Anstruther Smith was educated at Strathallan School and St John's College, Cambridge where he was a noted swimmer and water polo player, captaining the team and swimming against the University of Oxford in 1938.

In 1948 Smith was appointed as senior registrar in anaesthetics at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital in London and later that year as lecturer and consultant.

Smith was appointed consultant anaesthetist for the Plymouth hospitals group in 1953. He was the first coordinator of the anaesthetic department and established several courses for training operating department assistants in the south west. Smith was elected to the council of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland in 1962. He was also elected president of the Society of Anaesthetists of the South Western Region in 1973.

In 1981 he published another notable paper with P B Harvey entitled 'Prevention of air emboli in hip surgery. Femoral shaft insufflation with carbon dioxide.'