After listening to my most recent podcast on toxicology, an anaesthetist friend reflected that his job essentially involves poisoning people with potent toxins.

He could have made a fine living as a Royal Poisoner in the Middle Ages, except for his soft spot for administering antidotes towards the end of the operation.

Scheming royals traditionally considered that sort of thing a character flaw.

The ancients liked their poisons irreversible. Anyone who accidentally woke up in the recovery room was given a pillow, but not in the modern sense. Let’s call it airway management.