A German-German fate: Heinz Ruppert-A forgotten pioneer of peridural anaesthesia and the last ship's doctor of the PAMIR

• Published in: Der Anaesthesist Vol. 71; no. 3; pp. 220 - 232
• Main Author: Goerig, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: German
• Published: Germany 01.03.2022
• Subjects: Anesthesia, Epidural; Anesthesiology; Female; Humans; Physicians; Ships; Specialization; The beginnings of epidural anaesthesia in German speaking countries; Development concerning the technical equipment for epidural anaesthesia; History of obstetric anaesthesia; Problems concerning the identification of the epidural space; German pioneers of epidural techniques
• ISSN: 1432-055X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00101-021-01028-0

In the fall of 1957 there was a momentous ship disaster, during which the four-masted barque PAMIR sank in the Hurricane Carrie northwest of the Azores and 80 crew members were killed. Among the crew members killed was the ship's doctor Dr. med. Heinz Ruppert, a specialist in anesthesiology, gynecology and obstetrics from the University Women's Hospital of the Charité in East Berlin. Since he was also a specialist in anaesthesiology he was primarily responsible for the anaesthesiological care of patients at the University Women's Hospital at the Charité. As an avid supporter of neuraxial conduction anaesthesia techniques, he primarily worked on this topic scientifically and tried to establish peridural anaesthesia in obstetrics. In 1954 he was able to habilitate at the Charité with a thesis on this subject and was appointed as lecturer. His scientific oeuvre has so far not been appreciated, a reason to remember this forgotten German protagonist of gynecological obstetric anaesthesia.