The Making of a Surgeon
The Story of the First Heart and Lung Transplants and the Murder of Medgar Evers
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October 1961 – Jackson, Mississippi George Johnson, and several of the surgery residents, interns and medical students were gathered around the view box in X-Ray pondering a case of bowel perforation. The unfortunate fellow had been recently in a bar in the wrong part of town, in the company of the wrong crowd and in the short term companionship of the wrong woman and one thing had led to another and he wound up with a switch blade stuck in his abdomen half way between his belly button and his tally whacker which had been the root of most of his recent predicament. Antoine as he called himself, had been in the ER for several hours waiting his turn for exploratory surgery behind a gunshot wound and a massive head injury, which had taken precedence over a perforated bowel. George was four months late starting his first year of General Surgery residency, a program usually taking four years, then additional time, should the individual wish to further specialize. This was due to him fulfilling his three year commitment to the US Army. He was just starting to catch up with the other first year group who had started on time, four months earlier, and who had already been apprised of the nuances and favorite questions of Dr. Hardy and the traditional behavior of a bunch of smart-assed young prospective surgeons. George had a lot of catching up to do. There were approximately twenty general surgeon residents in the program, four or five at each level.
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About the Book
Segregation was a way of life in the 1960s, especially in the South when O. Gordon Robinson Jr. was completing his surgical residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. The Ku Klux Klan was a force to be reckoned with at the time, and Robinson chronicles the events he witnessed as well as the civil rights movement of the time against the backdrop of completing his medical education. His main focus is on the daily lives and work of the residents, including the innovative organ-transplant research led by Dr. James Hardy. One of Robinson’s initial assignments was to transplant a kidney from one dog to another, and from the recipient dog, one of his kidneys to the first dog. The helpers anesthetized the animals, prepped and draped them, and started IV fluids if necessary. Dr. Hardy was a real pioneer in the field of transplantation, and as time went on, it became obvious that he and his crew were preparing to do heart and lung transplants on humans—something that had never been done before. Whether you’re interested in life during the civil rights movement, medical education or both, you’ll enjoy The Making of a Surgeon.
About the Author
O. Gordon Robinson, Jr., M.D. was in the maelstrom of segregated Mississippi as a surgical resident. He writes of quantum medical breakthroughs as well as quantum social change from the perspective of a house resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the early 1960s. He currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama.