Education
He studied surgery in Dublin and Paris and was appointed surgeon to the United Hospitals of Street Nicholas and Street Catherine.
He studied surgery in Dublin and Paris and was appointed surgeon to the United Hospitals of Street Nicholas and Street Catherine.
He was one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and its first professor of Surgery. The granting of a charter to the College in 1784 replaced the original charter of barbers and surgeons, enabling the College to promote and advance surgery in Ireland. Dease published treatises on head injuries, midwifery and the radical cure of hydrocele.
He was born about 1752 in Lisney, County Cavan.
He was sent to Doctor Clancy"s school in Dublin, and then studied medicine in the city and in Paris. He set up in practice in Dublin, and gained repute as a surgeon, holding hospital appointments.
He took an active part in procuring a charter of incorporation for the Dublin surgeons, and became the first professor of surgery in the new college in 1785, and president of the college in 1789. His death was in June 1798, under circumstances are unclear.
According to one account he had made the mistake of opening an aneurism in a patient with a fatal result, taking it for an abscess, went to his study and opened his own femoral artery.
According to another account, he died from an accidental wound of the femoral artery. And by a third account, from the rupture of an aneurism.
Dease was an original member of the Dublin Society of Surgeons who sought to dissolve the connection that linked surgeons with barbers.