Ap Morgan Vance

Background

Ap Morgan was born on May 24, 1854, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the son of Morgan Brown and Susan Preston (Thompson) Vance.

Education

Vance attended rural schools in Tennessee and the public schools and Moss Academy at New Albany, Indiana, to which place the family moved in 1868. Entering the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1876, he was graduated in 1878.

Through association with Dr. David W. Yandell, one of the foremost surgeons of the city, he was influenced to undertake a thorough study of anatomy and a career in surgery. After graduation, he obtained a resident internship in the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled Children in New York City.

Career

Returning to Louisville in 1881, Vance elected to confine his practice to surgery and became the first exclusive practitioner of this specialty in Kentucky. This departure from established custom caused criticism, which, however, soon died out. While his chief interest was in orthopedic surgery, this branch was too limited a specialty for the Louisville of that period, and he accepted whatever surgery came his way.

Though frequently offered teaching positions, he refused them in order to devote his time to clinical practice. He did, however, exert a powerful influence upon the surgical thought of the city through the internes of the hospital with which he was connected. He was the medical representative upon the commission which built the Louisville City Hospital and was responsible for its plans and scope; he was the prime mover in the organization and construction of the Children's Free Hospital; and served them both as attending surgeon, as he did, also, the hospital of SS. Mary and Elizabeth.

For thirty-five years he was surgeon to the Masonic Widows and Orphans Home. He was active in every movement which involved the local profession and a constant attendant upon the meetings of the county and state societies, both of which he served as president. His writings were confined to journal articles, mainly on the subject of orthopedic surgery.

An invalidism from nephritis limited his activities for two years before his death, which occurred at his home in Louisville.

Achievements

• For years, Vance had the largest operating practice in Louisville. His greatest contribution to surgery was his improvement of the operation of osteotomy for the correction of deformity of long bones of the extremities. He advocated and perfected a bloodless subcutaneous operation by means of a small chisel inserted through a minute incision of the skin. He also improved the procedure of tenotomy for the treatment of congenital clubfoot. The ingenuity and manual dexterity that enabled him to produce orthopedic apparatus made him an outstanding surgical technician. His skill, together with accurate judgment of indications for operation, brought unusual success to his surgical practice. Having a natural mechanical bent, he devised and improved apparatus for crippled limbs and diseased spines, still used in the 19306; this work he continued throughout his career. His memory is kept alive by a ward bearing his name, endowed by popular subscription, in the Children's Free Hospital, for which he had done so much in his lifetime.

Views

Vance adopted asepsis from its inception and was an early advocate of operative treatment for appendicitis.

Membership

a member of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, a member of the American Association of Gynecology and Obstetrics, a member of the American Orthopedic Association, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons

Connections

Vance was married in 1885, to Mary Josephine Huntoon of Louisville, daughter of Dr. B. B.

Father:

Morgan Brown Vance

Mother:

Susan Preston (Thompson) Vance

Wife:

Mary Josephine Huntoon