Treaty of Drapes

The Treaty of Drapes of 1982 (also known as The Anesthesia & Surgery Truce) is one of the great historical documents in the history of medicine. Its signature on April 14, 1982 signaled the end to decades of bloodshed between the warring factions of Anesthesiology and Surgery.

For the decades preceding the treaty, the neutral zone best known today as the OR drape^[1] did not exist. As there was no clear demarcation of territory, the two factions wandered into each other's "territory" with often devastating results. Surgeons would attempt to finish Sudoku^[2] puzzles, but would do so incorrectly and in pen.^[3] Anesthesiologists would "get up in surgeons' grills" and make silly faces or sounds to get them to break concentration or sterile field. Tensions peaked January 12, 1982 when general surgeon Michael Wilcox hid the propofol and anesthesiology CRNA Megan Lewis retaliated and gave Wilcox an atomic wedgie a mere 5 minutes into his Whipple procedure.

Shortly thereafter, general surgeon Anna Fitzgerland and anesthesiologist Ryan Morgan decided to seek peace by taking advantage of the surplus of drapes in the OR. After numerous discussions, they finally decided on the creation of a neutral zone and barrier, thus finally defining Surgery territory and Anesthesia territory. They drafted and signed the treaty on April 14, 1982 and shook gloved hands, restoring peace to our ORs. Ever since the treaty was signed, the drape surplus has been addressed with more productive endeavors, such as puppet shows and epic drape forts.^[4]^[5]

- American Society of Anesthesiologists

- Colonel Conscious Sedation

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