William James West, was an English surgeon and apothecary, who among other things took a prominent role in the local movement of reform of medical practice.
[1] Today, this syndrome is typically characterized by three findings: epileptic spasms, psychomotor retardation and electroencephalogram with a characteristic layout of hypsarrhythmia, although one of the three may not appear.
She was born at Southborough, Kent, as doughter of Robert Dashwood and Hannah Halsey on 12 February 1809 and baptized on 5 May at St Marylebone Parish Church.
In 1837 West published in The Lancet a description of the first ovariectomy, describing how he removed an ovarian cyst with a size of about 20 pints (11.3 liters ).
[10][11] In late January 1841 William wrote to The Lancet describing the case of his son James, who began to suffer a seizure disorder at four months of age.
[1] William James West died in 1848 at approximately 55 years of age, as recorded in the annals of Tonbridge, because of dropsy, an older term used to designate the ascites resulting from kidney or heart failure.