Dr Donald Bruce Scott
1976-1979 - President
Bruce Scott died suddenly aged 72 from a cerebral haemorrhage on 2 November 1998. Bruce was a major player in the field ofobstetric anaesthesia in the UK and was one of those responsible for lifting the status of the subspecialty out of its ‘Cinderella’ image during the 1960s. He was a founder member of the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association in 1969 and was elected President in 1976.
Bruce graduated in 1948 from EdinburghMedicalSchool and spent his pre-registration year in Sussex before spending 3 years with the Colonial Medical Service in the African Gold Coast. He then returned to Scotland and a career in anaesthetics resulting in 1959 in a consultant appointment at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He produced his MD thesis on ‘Epidural Blockade’ in 1959 which was remarkable when one considers the anaesthetic establishment’s opposition to spinal analgesia at that time in the UK. Bruce Scott thrived when his personal view conflicted with established dogma and his respect for properly conducted research led to many of the early randomized double-blind studies on central neural blockade.
He was responsible for the early development of anaesthetic and epidural analgesia services in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion in Edinburgh. Much of his original research work involved the elucidation of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects of local anaesthetics. The ‘supine hypotensive syndrome of pregnancy’ had been described but he was responsible for defining the physiological mechanism of aorto-caval compression in collaboration with obstetricians and physicians.
He helped establish the Clinical Research Centre of Astra Pharmaceuticals in Edinburgh becoming its deputy director in 1986 when he retired from the Royal Infirmary. He was a prolific author writing numerous papers, reviews and textbooks with an enviable gift for descriptive writing. He was a highly respected speaker and received Gold medals from both the American and European Societies of Regional Anaesthesia. He was a board member of the Faculty of Anaesthetists and the first president of the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia. He served on the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in Scotland for many years and was influential in improving standards of obstetric care.
Bruce Scott won a blue for soccer while at university and later became an enthusiastic golfer with an unorthodox but often very effective swing. He was excellent company, a bon viveur and a superb cook with an immense knowledge of wine. He always enjoyed lively discussion and clearly loved to teach. However, above all this he will be remembered as a family man and a friend, a skilled clinician and counsellor to many. He leaves a wife, Joan, four sons (one an anaesthetist), two daughters and many grandchildren.
J. H. McClure
