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As 2020 comes to a close, and healthcare workers begin receiving the first federally-approved coronavirus vaccine,

we at American innovations are feeling especially grateful for all that modern medicine can accomplish.

So when it came time to choose which series we wanted to end the year on, our team's vote was unanimous.

We're bringing back a series that may be more than any other.

Features a medical achievement we can point to and say without hesitation, yes, that made the world a better place.

This is the story of anesthesia.

It's 1844 in Boston and the most renowned surgeon in America is dreading going to work.

Everything's ready, doctor.

Thank you. I'll be right there.

After a minute of staring into space, Dr. John Warren, aged 66, rises weirdly and mounts the stairs for the top floor of Massachusetts General Hospital.

On each step, he feels the grit of sand and sawdust crunching underfoot.

As he opens the door to the operating theater, he's blinded by sunshine streaming through the windows.

He tells visitors that they operate on the top floor for the abundance of light there.

It's only half true.

The fact is that the screams of patients are less audible to everyone on the floors below.

Inside, the operating theater is packed with students and they rise when he enters.

Mass General is a teaching hospital and when the top surgeon in America operates, there's never an empty seat.

Then why do I feel like such a fraud? Warren thinks to himself.

Good morning. Be seated, please.

As everyone sits, he turns to the patient on the bed, a freckled red-haired Irishman named Nicholas.

...