The famous surgery took place on December 25, 1809 without benefit of antisepsis or anesthesia - both unknown to medicine at the time. The ovarian tumor weighed 22.5 pounds (10.2 kg) and the whole procedure took 25 minutes. Mrs. Crawford, the patient, would live another 32 years.
This short is about the career of American surgeon and physician Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830), the first person to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. He has been called a founding father of abdominal surgery. He has been honored with statues in the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, with a postage stamp in 1959 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his historic operation, and the medical center in Danville, Kentucky is also named after him.
In 1809, the year this event occurred, the City of Danville had a population of about 432. In the 2020 US Census the population was 17,234.
Part of the "John Nesbitt's Passing Parade" series of short films dramatizing historical events. As with other films in the series, Nesbitt provides the narration.