James Tayloe Gwathmey

James Tayloe Gwathmey, M.D. (September 10, 1862—February 11, 1944) was an American physician and the first president of the American Association of Anesthetics (now the International Anesthesia Research Society). For this and other contributions to anesthesiology, which included innovations in administering anesthetics to war wounded and in obstetrics, Gwathmey was hailed at the time of his death as the "Father of Modern Anesthesia."

Biography

Early life Gwathmey was born on September 10, 1862, at Buena Vista in Roanoke, Virginia, the childhood home of his mother, Mary Lavinia Tayloe, daughter of George Plater Tayloe and Mary Elizabeth Langhorne. This last infraction led to his expulsion from V.M.I. on December 8, 1887.

Career In 1902, several years after he finished medical school, Gwathmey moved to New York City and started practicing medicine. Gwathmey was also actively involved in the early organization of anesthesiology as a specialty around this time. He was a founding member of the Long Island Society of Anesthetists, established in 1905. He was a primary force behind the establishment of the first national organization of anesthetists. On June 12, 1912, the American Association of Anesthetists was incorporated and elected James T. Gwathmey as its first president. thumb Illustration of rectal administration of Gwathmey's ether-oil anesthetic to a patient. This method of anesthesia was commonly used in obstetrics. leftGwathmey also developed an ether-oil anesthesia cocktail that would be given to patients rectally and was frequently used in obstetrics. He made refinements on a 1911 nitrous oxide-oxygen Boothby-Cotton anesthesia respirator, making adjustments that allowed the operator to estimate the amount of anesthetic gases remaining as well as reducing the weight of the instrument from 50 lbs (22.7 kg) to 14.5 lbs (6.6 kg). Writing with New York chemist Dr. Charles Baskerville, Gwathmey detailed his contributions and research within the first complete compilation of the medical knowledge of anesthesiology in the 1914 textbook titled Anesthesia. thumb An illustration of Gwathmey's Nitrous Oxide-Oxygen anesthesia device as it appears in Gwathmey's 1914 textbook, Anesthesia.When the United States became a belligerent in World War I, Gwathmey served in Europe as a captain in the medical branch of the United States Army. He advised both the French and British armies on the use of anesthesia, and his nitrous oxide-oxygen apparatus was frequently used to treat soldiers who were wounded in the conflict. Upon the conclusion of hostilities, Gwathmey returned to his New York practice. He remained active in academic medicine for the rest of his life, publishing 113 papers in medical journals and revising his textbook. His passion for learning and improving the practice of anesthesiology was not diminished in old age. He continued to attend the national meetings on anesthesia into his 70s. A colleague describes how Gwathmey decided to master the details of giving spinal anesthesia - this in 1934, when Gwathmey was 72 years old. It was only in 1939 that Gwathmey retired from clinical practice due to his severe bronchial asthma and coronary heart disease. James Tayloe Gwathmey died on February 11, 1944, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Family James T. Gwathmey was the third of six sons for mother Mary Lavinia Tayloe and his father William Watts Gwathmey. His father's side of the family was descended from Owen Gwathmey, who fled to Virginia from Wales in the 1600s. His mother was part of an old and respected Virginia family which carried a history of military and community service, The Tayloe's of Mount Airy. He married Margaret L. Riddle, a Nashville resident, in 1890, although the marriage ended in divorce. Gwathmey had one daughter, Mary Tayloe Gwathmey, and one son, William Riddle Gwanthmey, who was a captain in the British Army.