In literature, I recall physically squirming during the sequence in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle when our protagonist had some bladder stones removed sans an

In literature, I recall physically squirming during the sequence in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle when our protagonist had some bladder stones removed sans anaesthesia. And more recently, reading a thoughtful review of the BBC comedy series 'Quacks' from 2017 - where they described breathtaking advances in medicine around 1840. Things went from "Let's cut this off quickly enough that you don't die from shock" with a 20+% chance of dying from the truly agonising operation meant to save you -- to a few decades later when they'd mostly worked out how to safely knock you out, carefully operate, and were aware of germ theory & sterilisation procedures.