Evan Kane American surgeon Date of Birth: 06.04.1861 Country: USA

Biography of Evan O'Neill Kane

Evan O'Neill Kane, an American surgeon who made history by performing surgery on himself, was born in 1861 in Darby, Pennsylvania. He came from a family with a strong medical background. His mother, Elizabeth Denniston Wood Kane, and his siblings were all doctors. Following in their footsteps, Evan also became a physician.

The Kane family owned the Kane Summit Hospital, which later became a museum. Evan studied at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and graduated in 1884. He then joined his family at Kane Summit Hospital and eventually became its chief surgeon.

In 1893, Evan married Blanche Rupert, but she passed away less than a year later after giving birth to their son, Elisha Kent Kane. He remarried Lila Rupert, and they had six children together.

Evan's medical career was successful, and he gained recognition as a "railroad surgeon." He performed numerous surgeries on site, often after accidents or major industrial disasters. He made several innovations and inventions that significantly improved the work of surgeons in these situations.

Evan also advocated for the practice of tattooing newborns with small, discreet tattoos identical to those of their mothers. He believed this would prevent babies from being switched. However, this idea faced significant opposition.

In 1919, Evan performed self-amputation of an infected finger without much attention. But in 1921, at the age of 60, he made history by performing an appendectomy on himself. This was the first documented case of a surgeon operating on himself. Evan's goal was to prove that general anesthesia was not necessary for an appendectomy. Using mirrors to see the surgical field, he successfully removed his appendix under local anesthesia. He recovered quickly and was back home the next day. Prior to this self-operation, Evan had already removed over 4,000 appendices, making him well acquainted with the procedure.

At the age of 70, not content with one self-operation, Evan attempted another surgery on himself. This time, he performed a hernia operation under local anesthesia, which was more complicated and lasted one hour and 55 minutes. Just 36 hours later, he returned to the operating room.

Evan's son, Elisha Kent Kane, became the head of the Romance Languages department at the University of Tennessee. However, he later faced charges of murdering his own wife. Evan was able to help his son by proving in court that the woman had a diseased heart, which was the cause of her death.

Evan O'Neill Kane passed away from pneumonia in 1932 at the age of 70, shortly after his son's trial and a few months after his self-performed hernia operation.