Dr Douglas Wigston Shannon
Personal Details
Dr Douglas Wigston Shannon MB ChB FFARCS DA
1915 to 1992
Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality: British
CRN: 560708
Education and qualifications
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General education |
Medical School, University of Edinburgh 1934-39 |
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Primary medical qualification(s) |
MB ChB, University of Edinburgh, 1939 |
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Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Election |
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Year of Fellowship |
1953 |
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Other qualification(s) |
DA (RCP&S), 1947 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
After graduation Shannon undertook House Officer posts at the North Suffolk Hospital, Lowestoft. In WW2 he served in the RAMC, becoming a Specialist Anaesthetist. On demobilisation in 1946 he returned to Edinburgh to be Resident Anaesthetist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC). In 1950 he was appointed Consultant Anaesthetist at the RHSC in Edinburgh, in which post he remained until his retirement about 1979.
Professional interests and activities
In the 1950s he published on resuscitation of the burned child, and in the 1960s he contributed the chapters on anaesthesia in two textbooks of paediatric surgery. Anaesthetists who trained under his supervision were impressed by his technical abilities. He was President of the then Association of Anaesthetists of Edinburgh for 1963-64, and President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists for 1971-72. Next in 1973 he was instrumental in the inauguration of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.
Sadly in October 1976 a 3-year old boy who was anaesthetised by Shannon for excision of a cyst from the lower lip, died minutes after the operation from respiratory obstruction and ventricular fibrillation caused by failure to remove a throat pack; this had been inserted by Dr Shannon to prevent blood being inhaled or swallowed. A fatal accident enquiry followed and evidence was heard at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in September 1977 with reporting in newspapers. The Sheriff declared it must be the responsibility of the anaesthetist to ensure a throat pack is removed at the correct time. This incident led to a change in practice at the hospital to improve safety, viz. noting throat pack insertion and removal on a swab board in the operating theatre.
Other biographical information
Douglas Shannon married Ann Mary Cleary in Aldershot in 1944 and they had five children. He died at the age of 76 years in Edinburgh, survived by his family.
Author and sources
Author:
Dr Alistair McKenzie
Sources and comments:
[1] Medical Registers and Medical Directories. [2] www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [3] Interviews with contemporary Edinburgh anaesthetists. [4] Glasgow Herald September 10 and 27, 1977.