I can find only two references to this, a line on the Net

'Pain is a natural and intended curse of the primal sin. Any attempt
to do away with it must be wrong,' according to the Zurich City
Fathers who banned anesthesia.

http://didaskalia.open.ac.uk/issues/vol2no3/padel.html

and a line in

Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body For the Sake of the Soul, By Ariel
Glucklich, Oxford University Press, 2001

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Request for Question Clarification by philip_lynx-ga on 24 Mar 2004 00:06 PST

If this is an important issue for you, I can go and investigate at the
state archive of Zurich. If you are talking about Zurich, Switzerland, that is.

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Clarification of Question by dcp1-ga on 24 Mar 2004 02:04 PST

I am writing a paper on the early arguments used against surgical
anesthesia. I was surprised to find this extraordinary ban wasn't well
documented in any source I had access to. Though I think the details
of the ban (why it was introduced and lifted) might be of wider
interest, I'd hate to send anyone off on a wild goose chase when I
know so little about it (perhaps it would help if someone could just
confirm the ban really existed). Thanks again!

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Request for Question Clarification by philip_lynx-ga on 29 Mar 2004 06:19 PST

Hm, tough one. I could not find any reliable source on the net, and
what remains would really be to go and have a look at the files, it
seems. As suggested, I can do that -- or maybe you could issue an
inter-library query for copies of the relevant ordinances / laws?