First use of halothane in the United States, C. Ronald Stephen, M.D. (1916-2006)

Anesthesia is one of the most valued discoveries in all of history. Almost immediately after the first public demonstration of ether anesthesia, a search for a better drug began. Ether, despite its flammability, persisted as the primary inhalation agent for over a hundred years. The breakthrough came with the introduction of a non-flammable volatile anesthetic called halothane in 1955. The drug was approved by the FDA in 1958 and quickly became the most commonly used agent in the United States. It was a quantum leap forward in the safety of anesthetic drugs. It became obsolete in 1988 because of hepatotoxicity. Three eminent anesthesiologists: Drs. Abajian of Vermont, Siker of Pittsburgh and Stephen of Duke could have been the first to use halothane in the USA. My review of the documents and writings of the three confirm that Dr. C. Ronald Stephen of Duke University was indeed the first to use and publish on halothane anesthesia in the USA.