WHAT: Academic meeting of CHOMS on November 23, 2009 Presenting to the Calgary History of Medicine Society, Colleagues and Interested Parties
WHERE: It will be part of the evening at the Hotel Alma (University of Calgary) 169 University Gate NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
WHEN: November 23, 2009 at 6:00 to 9:00 PM with dinner COST: $30.00 covers food and refreshments
WHO: Dr. Jim Wright, Professor of Pathology Head of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary; Sir William Osler, Howard Kelly, and the Roles in the Development of Techniques to Permit Covert Autopsies.
Sir William Osler and Howard Kelly, two of the four founding physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital, were probably the pre-eminent practitioners of their respective specialties, internal medicine and gynecology, during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Both were passionately interested in pathology. Although not widely known, during the 1880s, both allegedly pioneered "arms length" methods to perform covert autopsies which involved removing abdominal and even thoracic organs via the anus, vagina, or a small perineal incision hidden behind the scrotum. These techniques were allegedly used, at least occasionally, to circumvent autopsy consent regulations and to procure "teaching specimens" for medical museums. This presentation examines the historical evidence for these alleged events and examine these behaviors within the context of: (1) the need to obtain pathological specimens for teaching gross pathology and clinical pathological correlation to medical trainees, (2) the loose interpretation of autopsy consent regulations at "charity hospitals" during the late 19th Century, (3) the medical museum movement, and (4) the paternalistic approach to the practice of medicine typical of their times. The evidence suggests that Kelly developed and published three "arms length" methods for covert autopsies while a resident in Philadelphia and that both Kelly and Osler pioneered the use of these methods in the 1880s. In fact, this activity appears to have initiated the two doctors' long professional relationship. The brief history of these "minimally invasive" autopsy techniques is also examined by reviewing 19th and 20th Century textbooks of autopsy technique."
CONTACT: No later than Thursday, November 19th, 2009 Email: bcusitar@ucalgary.ca Phone: 402 210-9640
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