Once upon a time, specifically ranging from 1866 until the end of the 1950s, almost all of the attending staff at Cook County Hospital (CCH)—and thus the instructors who prepared physicians for their roles in the world—were unpaid volunteers. In all large public teaching hospitals, like CCH, appointment to the staff was both an honor and public recognition of the appointee’s status, his or her reputation among his or her peers.
This book examines the development of the medical disciplines that historically fell under the aegis of the department of surgery at CCH and other similar institutions. The individuals who taught successive new generations of surgeons were not necessarily famed in their time. Already respected, however, they gained legendary status as their former students realized just how effectively these men had taught them.
