Joseph Price

Background

He was born on January 1, 1853 in Rocking-ham County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Joshua and Feby (Moore) Price.

Education

He was educated at the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute, Fort Edward, New York, and Union College, Schenectady, New York, but left college to join the engineering corps of the New York Central Railroad. He subsequently entered the University of Pennsylvania as a medical student and was graduated in 1877.

Career

His first professional post was that of surgeon on a transatlantic passenger ship on which he made three trips between Antwerp, Liverpool, and Philadelphia. He then began his work at the old Philadelphia Dispensary where he became head of the obstetrical division and organized the gynecological department. Under his leadership the clinic for women became one of the most conspicuous and largest in the country. It was here, working among the poor of the slums, under unsanitary conditions, that he laid the foundation of his brilliant career in abdominal surgery.

The year 1887 was an important one in his life. He went abroad and while in England he met Lawson Tait, England's pioneer surgical genius, whose work was a great inspiration to him. After his marriage he accepted the position of director and resident physician of the Preston Retreat, a philanthropic maternity hospital in Philadelphia. He held this post for seven years during which time there was not one death from sepsis.

In 1888 he and Dr. C. B. Penrose founded the Gynecean Hospital. In 1891 he withdrew from the Gynecean to open, with Dr. J. W. Kennedy, his own hospital, now known as the Joseph Price Memorial Hospital. He was the president of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1895.

In June 1911, suffering from a retroperitoneal infection which had existed as a metastatic condition from a prior septicemia, he left his sick room and successfully performed an operation for appendicitis. Shortly afterwards he was seized with violent pains, recognized the symptoms, conferred with his fellow surgeons, and made all the arrangements for his own operation. He died the same night without recovering from the shock of the operation.

Achievements

• Joseph Price was co-founder of Gynecean Hospital, he also established later known Joseph Price Memorial Hospital, which became the largest private institution in the United States for abdominal surgery. By his clinical teaching Price influenced the activities of nearly every surgeon in the United States, yet he never held a teaching position in any institution. He was the author of several articles, which became extremely famous: "Cleanliness in Maternities"; "A Retrospect of Abdominal Surgery"; and "Surgical Conception of Peritonitis".

Views

He never wore gloves when operating, believing that they lessened his dexterity and were unnecessary if the hands were surgically clean. He tirelessly preached asepsis and radical cleansing of the operative field.

Membership

He was a member of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was also a member of the American Medical Association and the Mississipppi Valley Medical Association.

Personality

He had keen mind, piercing vision, deft fingers, and unbounded enthusiasm. His surgical genius consisted in his ability to grasp essentials and to eliminate all unnecessary moves in operation, and having perfected a technique, simple but effective. He was a clear and forceful speaker and usually made apt and epigrammatic remarks.

He was fiercely intolerant of quackery, commercialism or slovenly work.

Quotes from others about the person

• Dr. Howard A Kelly writes of him: "His professional charity made his hospital accessible to the poorest patients. "

Connections

In 1887 he was married to Louise Troth of Philadelphia. He had three daughters and four sons.

Father:

Joshua Price

Mother:

Feby (Moore) Price

Spouse:

Louise Troth

influencer:

Lawson Tait

coworker:

C. B. Penrose

coworker:

J. W. Kennedy