Walter Sutton: Physician, Scientist, Inventor

Walter S. Sutton (1877-1916) was a physician, scientist, and inventor. Most of the work on Sutton has focused on his recognition that chromosomes carry genetic material and are the basis for Mendelian inheritance. Perhaps less well known is his work on rectal administration of ether. After Sutton's work on genetics, he completed his medical degree in 1907 and began a 2-year surgical fellowship at Roosevelt Hospital, New York City, NY, where he was introduced to the technique of rectal administration of ether. Sutton modified the work of others and documented 100 cases that were reported in his 1910 landmark paper “Anaesthesia by Colonic Absorption of Ether”. Sutton had several deaths in his study, but he did not blame the rectal method. He felt that his use of rectal anesthesia was safe when administered appropriately and believed that it offered a distinct advantage over traditional pulmonary ether administration. His indications for its use included (1) head and neck surgery; (2) operations when ether absorption must be minimized due to heart, lung, or kidney problems; and (3) preoperative pulmonary complications. His contraindications included (1) cases involving alimentary tract or weakened colon; (2) laparotomies, except when the peritoneal cavity was not opened; (3) incompetent sphincter or anal fistula; (4) orthopnea; and (5) emergency cases. Sutton wrote the chapter on “Rectal Anesthesia” in one of the first comprehensive textbooks in anesthesia, James Tayloe Gwathmey's Anesthesia. Walter Sutton died of a ruptured appendix in 1916 at age 39.