Doctors Day 2008 Fact Sheet
- On March 30, 1842, in Jefferson, Georgia, Crawford W. Long, M.D., administered the first ether anesthesia to a patient before surgically removing a tumor from the man’s neck. Later, the patient would swear that he felt nothing during the surgery and wasn’t aware the surgery was over until he awoke.
- The first Doctors Day observance took place on March 30, 1933 in Windsor, Ga. Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Charles B. Almond, M.D., petitioned the Barrow County Medical Society Auxiliary to set aside one day each year to honor physicians.
- Early Doctors Days were celebrated by mailing cards to physicians and their spouses and by placing flowers on the graves of deceased physicians.
- Doctors Day has been a nationally recognized observance since 1958 when the U.S. House of Representatives set aside March 30 to annually honor our nation’s physicians.
- An estimated 40 million anesthetics are administered each year in the United States. Anesthesiologists provide or participate in more than 90 percent of these anesthetics.
- Founded in 1905, The American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association of physicians organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.
- The American Society of Anesthesiologists is the foremost advocate for all patients who require anesthesia or relief from pain
- More than 90 percent of all practicing anesthesiologists in the United States belong to ASA, making it the preeminent voice of the specialty.
- As physicians, anesthesiologists are responsible for administering anesthesia to relieve pain and manage a patient’s vital life functions, including breathing, heart rhythm and blood pressure, during surgery. After surgery, they maintain the patient in a comfortable state during the recovery, and are involved in the provision of critical care medicine in the intensive care unit.