History of Pediatric Surgery Podcast: Sneak Peak

The Halifax explosion killed thousands and maimed thousands of others, devastating the medical community.

William Ladd was a 37-year-old surgeon who responded to the Halifax relief call.

Ladd had found an interest in pediatric surgery some years before Halifax, after training at Harvard.

Ladd organized a convoy of 40 physicians and nurses to reach Halifax by train through winter snowstorm conditions.

The relief team reached Halifax only 2 days after the blast and set up operations at a ruined but serviceable church.

The team stayed for a month during December 1917 and January 1918, caring for hundreds of injured children.

The myth that Halifax inspired Ladd to pursue pediatric surgery is not true; he had already committed to the field before the explosion.

The first smallpox vaccination in 1796 was administered to an 8-year-old by Edward Jenner.

One of the first patients to receive anesthesia by Crawford Long was a teenager who had a finger amputation.

The first splenectomy for blunt trauma was performed on a 14-year-old who had fallen from a scaffold and ruptured his spleen.

The first splenectomy for trauma represented the first time someone recognized impending death from ruptured spleen and performed a life-saving operation.