ANZCA Bulletin June 2012 - final.pdf - Australian and New Zealand ...

“The parting words were, ‘We’re onlya phone call away’, which wasn’t muchhelp,” he says.In Kluang, Dr Campbell met his wife,Mary, who was a nursing sister at themilitary hospital. They subsequently hadtwo sons – one of whom is an anaesthetistand the other a dentist.Kluang was also where he played hispart in a hospital-inspired truce betweenthe British and communist terrorists,which perhaps led to a cessation ofhostilities in that area.At that time, injured terrorists whowere sent to the civilian hospital didn’tsurvive the night because the localsdetested them so much they slit theirthroats.As part of a goodwill gesture, themilitary hospital started taking problemcases from the civilian hospital, includingthe terrorists.The first time this happened, only DrCampbell and the surgeon were on duty.Short of staff and wards, they patchedup the unarmed terrorists, and sent themto share the ward where the British wererecovering.The terrorists were astonished to wakeup as they expected to be given a lethalinjection and were discovered the nextday by the returning commanding officerplaying a card game, pontoon, with theinjured British soldiers.Dr Campbell says the terrorists werereluctant to return to their jungle unitsafter their recovery and apparently toldtheir comrades they didn’t want to fightthe British, who had become their friends.“And do you know, there was oneother skirmish when another lot ofterrorists came in and after that, none.Absolutely nothing. We never had anymore terrorists,” he says. “And I wondervery much whether it was to a large extentassociated with the fact that we actuallydemoralised them with our treatment.”Returning to England, Dr Campbelldid his formal anaesthetic training afterwhich, for interview practice, he appliedfor a job as an anaesthetist in charge ofthe anaesthetic services for the Oldhamgroup of hospitals on the outskirts ofManchester.“So absolutely blasé, I went up for thisinterview,” Dr Campbell recalls, expectingto be roasted for wasting the interviewpanel’s time by applying for such a seniorjob when he wasn’t even a consultant.At the interview, he was asked bypanelist Dr Patrick Steptoe what he knewabout pneumoperitoneum and if he, likeother anaesthetists, would be worriedabout pushing gas into the peritonealcavity.“I said, ‘Well I’d be worried if it was air,but if it was carbon dioxide or oxygen, I’dbe quite happy because you wouldn’t getan air embolus with that,’” he replied.(continued next page)“ An interest in the wireless ata young age, and a desire totake things apart to see howthey worked, perhaps can beseen as the spark that set offhis passion for invention.”Opposite page from left: Dr Duncan Campbell;Dr Campbell and his son, Dr David Campbell,who was presented as a Fellow at the PerthASM; and Dr Campbell inspecting the latestventilators at the Ulco stand at the Perth ASM.25