Dr. Ephraim McDowell, Frontier Surgeon A Chatauqua Performance

On Christmas Day, 1809, 1,000 miles from the nearest hospital and 35 years before the discovery of anesthesia, Dr. Ephraim McDowell removed a 22 pound ovarian tumor from the abdomen of a 46 year old woman. It was the world's first ovariotomy and it eventually brought McDowell worldwide acclaim as the father of abdominal surgery.  L. Henry Dowell brings Dr. McDowell to life in this thrilling character performance, as he shares with us what frontier medicine was really like.

This Chautauqua event is made possible by the Kentucky Humanities and their generous sponsors.