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A Blessing in Disguise - Misuse of Anaesthesia NEW EXHIBITION - Posted 18 October 2011
This exhibition shows how various substances, such as cocaine or morphine, were used from the earliest times to modern day, sometimes with disastrous effects. It explores the origins of these powerful drugs and how they have been developed through history for medical use, and also how they have also been misused.
Anaesthetic drugs have been used through the ages recreationally, often before their medical use was discovered. They have been used to torture and execute criminals, and even to commit murder. The exhibition illustrates the risks of addiction and overdose with celebrities, including recent fatalities Michael Jackson and Heath Ledger.
Modern day anaesthesic medicine is controlled by strict safety standards. Anaesthetists, who form the largest specialty group in NHS hospitals, undergo nine years of training to learn how to administer these drugs safely.
Anaesthesia Heritage Centre
11 October 2011–October 2012
Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am-4pm
Free entry, but booking is highly recommended
- Click for more information:
- Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum
- Anaesthesia Heritage Centre
- Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum
- BDA Dental Museum
- British Optical Association Museum
- British Red Cross Museum & Archives
- Chelsea Physic Garden
- Florence Nightingale Museum
- Foundling Museum
- Freud Museum
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Museum
- Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability
- Museum of the Order of St John
- Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Royal College of Physicians Museum
- Royal College of Surgeons Hunterian Museum
- Museum of Royal Pharmaceutical Society
- Royal Society of Medicine
- Royal London Hospital Museum & Archives
- Science Museum
- St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum & Archives
- Wellcome Collection
- Wellcome Library
- Worshipful Society of Apothecaries