Dr Joseph Rintoul Esplen
Personal Details
Dr Joseph Rintoul Esplen FFARCS MRCS LRCP DA
16/09/1912 to 08/10/1974
Place of birth: Maghull, Liverpool
Nationality: British
Known as: Joe
CRN: 723645
Education and qualifications
|
General education |
Liverpool University Medical School |
|---|---|
|
Primary medical qualification(s) |
MRCS LRCP, 1939 |
|
Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Election |
|
Year of Fellowship |
1953 |
|
Other qualification(s) |
DA(RCP&S), 1939 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Royal Army Medical Corps 1939-1945: he served as Malaria Officer in the North African desert. After demobilisation he was employed in junior anaesthetic posts, mainly in the Northern Hospital, Liverpool. Next he was appointed consultant anaesthetist in the North West Regional Thoracic Surgical Services, in which post he remained until his retirement. His considerable experience in the Poliomyelitis Unit of Fazakerley Hospital led to an invitation to advise on the management of over 300 patients requiring manual artificial ventilation during the 1952 epidemic in Copenhagen. On coming back to Britain, he became a pioneer in management of paralysed patients by positive pressure ventilation.
Other biographical information
Born into an engineering family, Joe Esplen was mechanically minded with a proclivity to apply this to anaesthesia: he invented the simple but practically effective Fazakerley and Aintree respirators. Both these and an advanced negative pressure ventilator were described in his publications. He was a devoted and indefatigable physician. Declining health led to his official retirement several years before his death (aged 62) , but he served as a locum until shortly before his passing.
Author and Sources
Author: A. Anthony Gilbertson
Sources: British Medical Journal 1974 (26 October); II: 234.