February 15, 1921. New York City. The operating room of the Kane Summit Hospital. A doctor is performing an appendectomy. In many ways the events leading to the surgery are uneventful. The patient has complained of severe abdominal pain. The diagnosis is clear: an inflamed appendix. Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane is performing the surgery. In his distinguished thirty-seven-year medical career, he has performed nearly four thousand appendectomies, so this surgery will be uneventful in all ways except two.

The first novelty of this operation? The use of local anesthesia in major surgery. Dr. Kane is a crusader against the hazards of general anesthesia. He contends that a local application is far safer. Many of his colleagues agree with him in principle, but in order for them to agree in practice, they will have to see the theory applied.

Dr. Kane searches for a volunteer, a patient who is willing to undergo surgery wile under local anesthesia. A volunteer is not easily found. Many are squeamish at the thought of being awake during their own surgery. Others are fearful that the anesthesia might wear off too soon. Eventually, however, Dr. Kane finds a candidate. On Tuesday morning, February 15, the historic operation occurs.

The patient is prepped and wheeled into the operating room. A local anesthetic is applied. As he has done thousands of times, Dr. Kane dissects the superficial tissues and locates the appendix. He skillfully excises it and concludes the surgery. During the procedure, the patient complains of only minor discomfort. The volunteer is taken into post-op, then placed in a hospital ward. He recovers quickly and is dismissed two days later. Dr. Kane had proven his theory. Thanks to the willingness of a brave volunteer, Kane demonstrated that local anesthesia was a viable, and even preferable, alternative.

But I said there were two facts that made the surgery unique. I've told you the first: the use of local anesthesia. The second is the patient. The courageous candidate for surgery by Dr. Kane was Dr. Kane.

To prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself! A wise move. The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor.

HERE IS A SHORTER VERSION OF THIS STORY:

Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane, chief surgeon of the Kane Summit Hospital in New York, had been a surgeon for almost four decades. He was fascinated by the possibility of the use of local anesthetics in areas that had always used a general anesthetic. He was concerned about the dangers of what he considered the overuse of general anesthesia. He wanted to find an appendectomy candidate who would be willing to do it with a local only. As Dr. Kane had performed nearly four thousand such operations, he was confident this would be a good type of operation to do with such an approach. But it was tough to find someone who was willing to stay awake through such surgery. Finally, he found a willing candidate, and on February 15 he wheeled in the patient, prepped him, and prepared for the operation. The surgeon deftly cut into the patient, found the troublesome appendix, and took it out without a hitch. The operation was a rousing success, and the patient recovered nicely.

The date was 1921 and the patient was none other than Dr. Kane himself. He had succeeded in taking out his own appendix under local anesthetic. Dr. Kane gave new meaning to the expression "Physician, heal thyself!"