John Benjamin Murphy
John Benjamin Murphy, born John Murphy (December 21, 1857 – August 11, 1916) was an American physician and abdominal surgeon noted for advocating early surgical intervention in appendicitis appendectomy, and several eponyms: Murphy’s button, Murphy drip, Murphy’s punch, Murphy’s test, and Murphy-Lane bone skid. He is best remembered for the eponymous clinical sign that is used in evaluating patients with acute cholecystitis. His career spanned general surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and cardiothoracic surgery, which helped him to gain international prominence in the surgical profession. Mayo Clinic co-founder William James Mayo called him "the surgical genius of our generation".
John Benjamin Murphy | |
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Murphy outside of Mercy Hospital after Theodore Roosevelt's assassination attempt in 1912 | |
| Born | December 21, 1857 |
| Died | August 11, 1916 (aged 58) Mackinac Island, Michigan, US |
| Resting place | Calvary Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Rush Medical College, 1879 |
| Known for | President, American Medical Association artificial pneumothorax appendectomy |
| Awards | Order of St. Gregory the Great |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Mercy hospital, Chief of Staff Rush Medical College College of Physicians and Surgeons Northwestern University Medical School Cook County Hospital Graduate Medical School of Chicago |
| Signature | |
Over the course of his career he was renowned as a surgeon, a clinician, a teacher, an innovator, and an author. In addition to general surgical operations, such as appendectomy, cholecystostomy, bowel resection for intestinal obstruction, and mastectomy, he performed and described innovative procedures in neurosurgery, orthopedics, gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery. He also ventured into techniques such as neurorrhaphy, arthroplasty, prostatectomy, nephrectomy, hysterectomy, bone grafting, and thoracoplasty.