Eighth time lucky
You may be familiar with this dramatic photo, which has been doing the rounds recently on social media (mainly thanks
Horrifying operations
Horrifying operations
Horrifying operations, Unfortunate predicaments
The spoon swallower
Here’s an intriguing snippet reported by the Paris correspondent of the Lancet in September 1882: We have now a patient
Odds bodkins
This fascinating case report was published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1701, contributed by a distinguished Dublin physician, Thomas Molyneux. It
Horrifying operations
“Oh, I’ll tell you another time”
In 1811 the novelist Fanny Burney underwent a mastectomy for suspected breast cancer. The operation was a total success: she
Horrifying operations
An unusual method
At the 1887 Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association a surgeon from Sunderland, James Murphy, walked on stage brandishing
Horrifying operations
Finish what you started
In 1847, at a meeting of the Paris Medical Society, Dr Jean-Baptiste Pigné gave a short talk about cancer. Pigné
Horrifying operations
Extraordinary and probably unique
This blog has previously included a few cases in which a patient performed surgery on their own body. One of
Hidden dangers, Horrifying operations
A curious surgical case
In 1846 John Kyle, a surgeon from the Ohio village of Cedarville, submitted the following case report to The Western
Horrifying operations, Remarkable recoveries
More than common danger
Sir Astley Cooper was the best known, and best paid, surgeon in early nineteenth-century London. He was a great innovator
Horrifying operations, Primitive equipment
The ear drill
You’ve heard of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; but what about a drill (or rather two drills) to