They Said It Was Twins She Knew It Was Something Else Entirely

The first American ovariotomy told plain and why it still matters today.

“A reproduction of the painting “The dawn of abdominal surgery” | Image Source: National Library of Medicine (No Known Copyright Restrictions)

On December 25, 1809, in a small house on Second Street in Danville, Kentucky, a woman lay on a table while several men waited beside her. They had dragged the table toward the window to catch what winter light they could. Pitchers of warm water stood by the hearth. Folded linen sat on a chair within easy reach. There was no ether. There were no antiseptics. The room was a parlor that had been turned into a place for cutting because there was nowhere else to go. The woman was 45. Her name was Jane Todd Crawford.

For months Jane she had carried a swelling that neighbors greeted with congratulations. The midwife used the word everyone preferred to hear. Twins. It sounded kind in a shop doorway and it filled the awkwardness when no one knew what to say. It did not match the calendar. The belly went on growing after any due date had come and gone. She slept poorly. She moved with a hand at her back. She stopped answering the cheerful remarks because there was nothing helpful to add.

A doctor in Danville examined her and set the talk aside. He was Ephraim McDowell, trained in Edinburgh, where students were taught to look closely, to write plainly, and to doubt rules that…