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Daniel Hale Williams

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Doctor

The Resume

    (January 18, 1856-August 4, 1931)
    Born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
    Founded Provident Hospital in Chicago (1891)
    Surgeon-in-Chief of the Freedman's Hospital in Washington, DC (1893-98)
    Known for performing an early example of successful open-heart surgery: repairing the torn pericardium of stabbing victim James Cornish (July 10, 1893)

Why he might be annoying:

    There is debate about whether he was born in 1856 or 1858.
    He originally planned to study law, but soon found the idea of 'profiting from quarrels' distasteful.
    He is often said to have performed the first ever successful open-heart surgery, but Dr. Henry Dalton had performed a similar suturing of the pericardium two years earlier (1891).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He performed successful open-heart surgery in an era before antibiotics and blood transfusions.
    He founded the first integrated hospital in the US, Provident.
    He was a founding member (and only black member) of the American College of Surgeons (1913).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 56 Votes: 57.14% Annoying