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The Ship’s Surgeon and Surgery at Sea: A Brief History

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Expeditionary Surgery at Sea

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Abstract

Sea travel, integral to the evolution of civilization, has enabled global migration, exploration, commerce, and war. As humans traveled further and further from land for increasingly longer periods of time, they developed medical and surgical conditions requiring treatment at sea. Infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies like scurvy, and injuries sapped the crew’s effectiveness. To treat illness and injury underway, medical and surgical personnel embarked on warships and merchant vessels. As medicine and surgery have matured, naval surgeons have pioneered surgery and resuscitation at sea.

If you be constrained to use your saw, let first your patient be well informed of eminent danger of death by the use thereof; prescribe him no certainie of life, and let the work be done with his owne free will, and request, and not otherwise.

The Surgion’s Mate, 1617, John Woodall, on amputation

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Matthew D. Tadlock & Amy A. Hernandez

  2. Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Benjamin T. Miller

Authors
  1. Matthew D. Tadlock
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  2. Amy A. Hernandez
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  3. Benjamin T. Miller
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Correspondence to Matthew D. Tadlock .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Matthew D. Tadlock

  2. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Amy A. Hernandez

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The views expressed in this chapter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the US Government.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Tadlock, M.D., Hernandez, A.A., Miller, B.T. (2023). The Ship’s Surgeon and Surgery at Sea: A Brief History. In: Tadlock, M.D., Hernandez, A.A. (eds) Expeditionary Surgery at Sea. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21893-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21893-4_3

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