A routine operation for a broken jaw turned horrifying in a London hospital in 1925.
Sixteen-year-old Laurence Sims was under anesthesia while surgeons worked to repair injuries from a bicycle accident when a sudden explosion erupted inside his mouth.
Within seconds, the surgical equipment was in flames.
Doctors fought to save the teenager, but he died just minutes later from a freak accident so unusual that it stunned even experienced medical professionals.
Explosion in Mouth Kills Boy Under Knife
LONDON. — A mishap, said to be rare in surgical operations in this country, caused the death of Laurence Sims, 16, at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Stratford.
The patient was being operated on for a broken jaw, the result of a collision between his bicycle and a motor car, and it became necessary to use warm air to keep his teeth dry.
This was applied with a dental syringe, ether and oxygen being the anesthetic used, and the light at which the syringe was being warmed was 6 feet away from the operation table.
Suddenly, at the third application of the syringe, a tremendous explosion occurred in the patient’s mouth and within a couple of seconds the whole apparatus was in flames.
Every effort was made to save the youth’s life, but he died within 10 minutes.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. November 3, 1925.
