Len Carrie Obituary
6 June 2025
Obituary: Dr Len Carrie
Len Edwards Scrimgeour Carrie, former consultant obstetric anaesthetist in the Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford, died on March 6th 2025. Although a Scot to the core, he was actually born in Cheshire in 1931 to Scottish parents; his father was a GP trained in Aberdeen. The young Len lived his early years in England, until his family relocated back to Scotland shortly before the outbreak of the second world war. It was there, in the highland town of Kingussie as a schoolboy that he began his lifelong attachment to golf. He later attended George Watson’s school in Edinburgh, whence he moved on to study medicine at Edinburgh university along with his brother Jimmy. After medical school and house jobs he did national service as a doctor in the RAF, where he did not particularly enjoy looking after a bunch of mostly healthy young men!
In 1961 he was appointed as an SHO in Oxford, where he spent the remainder of his medical career. He was appointed in 1967 as consultant in the NDA with a brief to run obstetric anaesthesia - at that time the service was split between the Churchill Hospital and the Nuffield Maternity Home in Walton Street behind the old Radcliffe Infirmary. In 1972 the new John Radcliffe (maternity) hospital opened in Headington - maternity services were the sole occupants of the site until the opening of the second phase in 1979. With over 6000 deliveries a year, it contributed 1% of all births recorded in the UK. It also supported a number of small regional units, to which a flying squad of anaesthetist, obstetrician and midwife could be dispatched to deal with a non-transferable emergency. Because the team had to be self-sufficient, and the quality of equipment at the receiving hospital could be poor, Len decided to standardise on a GA technique with a portable EMO ether vaporizer; generations of anaesthetists were taught by him how to use ether in a way that was not only safe but slick and rapid. He continued to teach and demonstrate this into the 1980’s on the Oxford course “Anaesthesia for Developing Countries”. Of course the most significant change he introduced and championed in Oxford and beyond was the use of regional anaesthesia, both for pain relief in labour and for operative deliveries. Len was brilliant as both an exponent and practical teacher.
As a clinician his unfailing courtesy, authority, calmness, attention to detail, and super-competence left a lasting impression on colleagues and patients alike. In the more than 40 years I knew him, I never saw him flustered. He had just the right temperament for his clinical “sideline” - for many years he was the only person in Oxford regularly anaesthetising patients with phaeochromocytoma. Since cases in that era were often only recognised when they died during anaesthesia, Len’s calmness and unhurried approach was the key to his success. Over the course of a week or more of pre-operative treatment using alpha and beta blocking drugs, and visiting the patient every day, Len would gradually pharmacologically disconnect the patient’s circulation from the rest of their bodies. When they could no longer stand up without fainting, he pronounced them ready for surgery, and his surgical colleague would come and do the deed.
In 1982, together with (now Sir) Peter Simpson he published “Understanding Anaesthesia”, a book aimed at nurses or technicians whose job it was to assist physician anaesthetists. It proved a best seller, and was valued equally by trainee anaesthetists who found its clarity and approach superior to books intended for them!
Len was president of the Obstetric Anaesthetists Association from 1990 to 1993.
When he retired from Oxford he gave a valedictory lecture to the department on “The Glass Spine” - it has aged well - you can still watch it on Youtube at https://youtu.be/XQ7zh5rdu6o
From Oxford, Len retired to Scotland, to (of course) St Andrews, where he was elected as a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf club, and continued to play regularly until shortly before his death. His wife, Mary, predeceased him in 2011, and he is survived by 2 children and 5 grandchildren.
Those of us who worked with Len remember him with much affection and owe him a great debt of gratitude. Mentor, colleague and friend.
Mike Dobson
Oxford, June 2025
