John Blair Deaver

John Blair Deaver (July 25, 1855 - September 25, 1931) was an American surgeon and educator who taught surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for over twenty years including as John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery from 1918 to 1922 and as emeritus professor of surgery from 1922 to 1931. He served as chief of surgery at the German Hospital in Philadelphia for over 40 years. He was an innovator in abdominal surgery and an advocate of early and preventative appendectomies. He was a prolific surgeon and it is estimated he performed 100,000 surgeries during the course of his career. He was known for the Deaver incision used during appendectomies and invented the Deaver retractor used in abdominal surgeries. He was a founding member of the American College of Surgeons and served as the fifth president from 1921 to 1922.

Early life and education Deaver was born on July 25, 1855, near Buck, Pennsylvania, to Joshua Montgomery Deaver and Elizabeth Clair Moore. His father was a country doctor, and two of his brothers were also physicians. He attended West Nottingham Academy in Maryland and briefly worked as a teacher to pay for his medical education.

He received an honorary Sc.D degree from Franklin and Marshall College and an LL.D from Villanova University.

Career He started a medical practice in Philadelphia in 1880 along with his brother Henry Clay Deaver and an anestheologist. He was known to travel to homes and perform appendectomies, Caesarean sections, and hysterectomies on patients as they lay on their kitchen tables.

He taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1881 to 1889. He left the university due to a rivalry with J. William White who was placed in charge of surgical education. He joined the faculty of German Hospital in 1886 and was appointed Chief of the Surgical Department in 1897. He worked at German Hospital for over 40 years. He was known for the Deaver incision used during appendectomies. He typically performed all surgical actions and placed responsibility on himself for both the decision to operate and the outcome of the procedure. "Cut well, get well, stay well," was a motto often repeated by Deaver.

He held "Saturday Clinics" which were attended by surgeons from around the world. He was known to conduct 25 surgeries in an afternoon during these clinics. He was a prolific surgeon and it is estimated he performed over 100,000 procedures during the course of his medical career.

In 1919, he was one of the physicians called to consult on President Woodrow Wilson. He was also called on by President Calvin Coolidge to consult on the fatal illness of his son, Calvin Coolidge, Jr. and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was rumored that he suffered from prostate cancer but it is not known since he asked for all medical records related to the case to be destroyed.

Legacy In 1897, the University of Pennsylvania established the John B. Deaver Surgical Society to support students interested in becoming surgeons. The society was active for 70 years.

Publications A Treatise on Appendicitis, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston & Co., 1896 Surgical Anatomy: A Treatise on Human Anatomy In Its Application to the Practice of Medicine and Surgery, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1903 Surgery of the Upper Abdomen, coauthored by Astley Paston Cooper Ashhurst, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston & Co., 1909 The Breast: Its Anomalies, Its Diseases, and Their Treatment, coauthored by Joseph McFarland, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1917 Enlargement of the Prostate, Philadelphia: P. Balkiston's Son & Co., 1922