CME INDIA Presentation by ⚜ Dr. M. Gowri Sankar, MD, Senior Assistant Professor, Dept. of General Medicine, Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, Coimbatore.
Today’s History Feature:
Prof. Dr. John Benjamin Murphy
(Dec 21, 1857 – Aug 11, 1916)
💠American Surgeon
His contributions…
🔸John Benjamin Murphy – popularly known as Murphy – was born in Wisconsin, U.S.
🔸He was actually brought up in a farm house by his parents, who were Irish immigrants.
🔸During his high school days, he got inspired by a local physician and later he started studying medical text books under his guidance and begun to dissect birds and rabbits at his farm.
🔸Then he studied medicine at Rush Medical College, Chicago and graduated in 1879.
🔸After his studies, Dr. Murphy got trained at various institutions in Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg. He also spent most of his time working with Pioneer surgeon Dr. Theodor Billroth.
🔸Subsequently, Dr. Murphy became the Professor of clinical surgery and served at following three medical schools.
🔅Rush Medical College.
🔅College of Physicians and Surgeons.
🔅Northwestern University Medical School.
🔸In fact, he was an early advocate of appendectomy in cases of appendicitis and also performed many innovative procedures in neurosurgery, orthopaedics, gynaecology, urology, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery.
🔸He was a pioneer in making surgery a speciality. Moreover, his lectures and clinical teachings were published as “The Surgical Clinics of Chicago” and “The Surgical Clinics of North America.”
🔸His Eponyms…
🔅 Murphy’s sign – Classical sign of acute cholecystitis.
🔅 Murphy’s punch – Tenderness at renal angle in cases of perinephric abscess.
🔅 Murphy’s Triad – Pain, vomiting and fever in appendicitis.
🔅 Murphy’s Test – To elicit rigidity and tenderness in cases of perinephric abscess.
🔅 Murphy’s Drip – Administering fluids by proctoclysis in cases of peritonitis.
🔅 Murphy-Lane Bone Skid – A steel instrument for femoral head procedures.
🔅 Murphy’s button – A mechanical device used for intestinal anastomosis.
🔸Throughout his career Prof. Dr. Murphy was celebrated as a master surgeon, superb clinician, great teacher, brilliant innovator, and a prolific author.
A Day to Commemorate…
The Surgical Genius
Prof. Dr. John Benjamin Murphy 🙏
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