GRIT OF A SURGEON
OPERATES WITH BROKEN BACK. Dr. E. J. O’Brien, chief of staff at the Herman Kiefer Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, United States, operated on four patients despite the fact that he was suffering from a broken back. Next day he was as much interested in their progress as in his own condition. He dismissed the operations with a smile. “It yas a job of work to be done,” he said. Four weeks before Dr. O’Brien’s back was broken in a motor-car accident. He was placed in a plaster cast and was able to move only his arms. In the hospital were four patients in need of delicate operations. When Dr. Norman Bethune, a noted surgeon, of Montreal, was unable to go to Detroit Dr. O’Brien informed his staff that, he would do the work. Despite all protests Dr. O’Brien insisted on being wheeled into the operating room. There he lay face downward on a table, and one after another the four patients were wheeled in beside him. As he finished the fourth operation he collapsed, but he revived speedily. The operations had taken him an hour.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 189, 12 August 1932, Page 5
Word Count
188GRIT OF A SURGEON Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 189, 12 August 1932, Page 5
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