thalidomide

noun

Etymology: From (ph)thal(ic acid) + (im)ido + (i)mide.

1. A drug sold during the late 1950s and early 1960s as a sleeping aid, and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms, but withdrawn as causing severe birth defects, such as phocomelia; currently used to treat leprosy.

   “I have tried all the medium and short acting non-barbiturate sedatives since the war (including thalidomide) but they don’t work and I don’t trust the newfangled long acting, “safe” analgesics.”

   “I can't stand to see your thalidomide robot face”