Vera Ignatievna Gedroits

April 19, 1870 (age 61)

Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine

On her return, Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was immediately hired at the Maltsov Cement Factory in the Zhizdrinsky District of the Kaluga Oblast as the plant's physician. By 1901, she had performed 248 operations with minimal fatalities, including amputations, herniation repair, and setting broken bones, many caused by the difficult working conditions of the laborers. Inadequate safety practices by the factory meant that there was a high risk of industrial accidents and the cement dust caused many eye problems. Concerned about the overall health of the workers, Vera Ignatievna made a list of recommendations for factory administrators, including cleaning the wells, providing washing tubs, and serving hot meals. In addition to her hospital work, Vera Ignatievna published scientific articles in Russian medical journals, which began to be noticed and reprinted in German and French. Invited to participate in the Third Congress of Surgeons in 1902, she presented a report on the surgery performed in 1901 on a male patient suffering from a deformation of the hip joints, which was so severe he could not stand or sit comfortably. Following a complex surgery, within four months the patient was able to walk without crutches. Her detailed report showed a thorough knowledge of the surgical work of predecessors in the field, including John Rhea Barton, F.J. Gant, Bernhard von Langenbeck, Jules Germain François Maisonneuve, and Richard von Volkmann. Wanting to leave the provincial life because of the difficult working conditions, the poverty of the workers, and family issues, Vera Ignatievna was required to attain Russian credentials to practice medicine elsewhere in Russia. In spite of her Swiss degree, she had to obtain certifications to meet the requirements of the University of Moscow. In 1902, Vera Ignatievna asked permission to test for the Latin requirement at the Oryol Gubernatorial Gymnasium. Having been under the watch of the police since her arrest in 1892, she was required to get a statement of character before the examination was allowed. After successfully passing her exams, she earned the title of a female doctor and on 21 February 1903, received her diploma, allowing her to practice medicine throughout the country. The continuing ill-health of her parents, her long working hours, and the collapse of her relationship with her lover from Switzerland, led to a suicide attempt in 1903. In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Vera Ignatievna volunteered to go to the front with the Red Cross. In the first month of the war, she treated 1,255 patients, including over 100 patients with head wounds and 61 patients with abdominal wounds. Though many Russian, as well as French and British, military surgeons had discarded the idea of treating abdominal wounds, she recognized that early intervention was key. Standard treatment at the time required the patient to be placed in a semi-reclining position so that the wound could drain. Vera Ignatievna was the first to perform laparotomies on military patients, having extensive experience in abdominal surgery for hernias, the most frequent surgery she performed in the cement factory hospital. Her procedure required that the patient undergo the operation within three hours of receiving a wound. Her success rate was high, leading to recommendations being made in international medical journals to adopt mobile surgical units which allowed for rapid treatment. The Russian Army and the Russian Society of Military Doctors officially adopted Gedroits' operative procedures. With the Russian defeat, Vera Ignatievna helped organize the hospital evacuation from near the Fushun Mining region, which was performed under gunfire because the Russian troops refused to retreat until the patients were moved. In 1905, she returned to the Maltsov Factory Hospital as chief surgeon and was appointed chief doctor of the Lyudinovskaya Hospital. Compiling a 57-page report on her work during the war, which included illustrations, Vera Ignatievna presented her results on 27 July 1905 to the Society of Military Doctors. She was awarded the gold medal of diligence from the Order of Saint Anna by the army commander for her actions during the Battle of Mukden, the Ribbon of Saint George with the silver medal "For Bravery" by General N. Plinevich for her treatment of the wounded, the three highest distinctions from the Russian Red Cross, and recognition by the Royal family in the form of the silver neck medal of the Order of Saint Vladimir. At the Maltsov factory, Vera Ignatievna continued to see many chronic diseases and began cataloging the cases of bone tuberculosis, infection, and an inguinal hernia for future scientific study. She recommended that special institutions designed to treat chronic patients be established. Vera Ignatievna published 17 scientific papers between 1902 and 1909. In addition to hernias and industrial injuries, her publications also covered surgeries for obstetrics, the thyroid gland, and various tumors which she had seen in her patients. The Lyudinovskaya Hospital was originally associated with the Lyudinovskaya Mining Plant but was turned into a surgical hospital serving the nearby communities of the district. Vera Ignatievna utilized her Swiss education and battlefield experiences as a basis for bringing it up to modern European standards. In addition to her work in the hospital, she made numerous housecalls, and over a five-year period, reported she had visited 125,363 patients. She received a municipal commendation from the City Council for her merits as a surgeon in 1908. In 1909, at the invitation of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Vera Ignatievna became the senior resident physician at the Tsarskoye Selo Court Hospital. As the royal household's first female physician and the second-highest-ranking member of the hospital's staff, she headed the Departments of Surgery and Gynecology/Obstetrics, while acting as the attending physician for the royal children. In parallel, Vera Ignatievna was compiling a thesis based on research from her factory days. She successfully earned her doctorate of surgery, the first woman to achieve the distinction from the University of Moscow, on 11 May 1912, after defending her thesis Long-term results of inguinal hernia operations using the protocol of Professor Roux based upon 268 operations. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Vera Ignatievna worked on equipping the hospital and preparing the staff for war. She taught nursing techniques to the Tsarina and her daughters, Olga and Tatiana, and they became assistants to her in her surgical operations. One of the other nurses she trained at Tsarskoye Selo, Countess Maria Dmitrievna Nirod, would later become Gedroits' life-long partner. Raising funds from the nobles, the hospital was equipped to enable rapid treatment, so that soldiers would not have to be sent to Petrograd, as Saint Petersburg was now known. By the end of 1914, Vera Ignatievna was mainly involved in serving as the palace physician. Periodically, she would go to the front to compensate for the absence of other surgeons. In one episode in 1916, she performed over 30 operations, mostly trepannings, over a three-day period. When the February Revolution began in 1917, Vera Ignatievna, as an employee of the Tsar, could not openly support the Russian Provisional Government. In order to remain neutral in the conflict, while still honoring her friendship with the royal family, she chose to return to work as a military doctor. Having worked for the Tsar, it would have been very unsafe to remain in Petrograd after Tsar Nicholas abdicated. Aged 44, she altered the birth information in her passport and was appointed as chief physician for the 6th Siberian Rifle Regiment. Sent to the front, Vera Ignatievna served the wounded at the Battle of Galicia in June and July 1917 and was then transferred to the 5th Siberian Rifle Corps as a divisional surgeon, a rank comparable to lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Russian Army. During the demobilization after the October Revolution, Vera Ignatievna was injured in January 1918 and taken to a military hospital in the Pechersk neighborhood of Kiev. While recuperating, Vera Ignatievna moved in with Countess Nirod, with whom she lived for the remainder of her days. She published two poems in the Banner of Labor in 1918, The Temptation of St. Anthony and Galician Stories, which reflected on her war impressions. As soon as Vera Ignatievna was able to return to work, she began working in the hospital of the Intercession Monastery and by 1919 had established a clinic to perform maxillofacial surgery. In 1920, when the Kiev Medical Institute organized a surgery department, she was invited by Yevgeny Tcherniakhovsky to join the faculty. In 1921, she began working as an external lecturer, teaching a course on pediatric surgery. She was appointed as a professor of medicine in 1923 and entered a period of publishing as an academic surgeon. In 1924, Vera Ignatievna published a paper on nutrition and in 1928 wrote an article on surgical procedures for treating tuberculosis in the knee. She published a textbook on pediatric surgery; wrote extensively for surgical journals with articles on surgery, endocrinology, and oncology; and participated in surgical conferences. In 1929, following Tcherniakhovsky's arrest, Vera Ignatievna became the departmental head of surgery. But the following year, during the Soviet purge, she was removed from her post and denied a pension. Using funds she had saved, she purchased a house on the outskirts of Kiev, where she and Nirod moved together. Continuing to work as a surgeon from time to time at the Intercession Monastery's hospital, she devoted the next two years to writing, publishing a series of fictionalized autobiographies. Vera Ignatievna with cancer in 1931, died in March 1932, aged 61, of uterine cancer. She was buried in the Savior-Transfiguration Cemetery, also known as the Korchevat cemetery, of Kiev, by the Archbishop Ermogen (born Alexei Stepanovich Golubev), who had been a patient of hers.

Vera Ignatievna Gedroits Edit Profile

also known as Sergei Gedroits

author Russian doctor of medicine

Background

Ethnicity: Vera Gedroits belonged to an ancient and noble Lithuanian princely family of Gedroits.

Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was born on April 19, 1870, in Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine. Her parents were Daria Konstantinovna Mikhau and Prince Ignatiy Ignatievich Gedroits. Her mother's family were Russified Germans and her maternal grandfather served as a captain in the military. Her father's family belonged to a Lithuanian princely clan which shared its origins with the more famous Radziwiłł family.

Vera Ignatievna was the middle child among five living siblings, Maria (1861), Ignatius (1864), Nadezhda (1876), and Alexandra (1878). Another brother, Sergei, of whom she was particularly fond, died young and would later inspire her literary pseudonym.

The children, like their mother, were raised as Orthodox, but their father remained Catholic. They grew up on the family estate which was destroyed by fire in 1877, forcing them to move to a boarding house where their grandmother Natalia Mikhau taught the children reading, French, music, and dancing. The lively Vera Ignatievna became the children's ringleader, often dressing in boys' clothes for convenience.

Education

Vera Ignatievna attended at the Bryansk women's gymnasium under Vasily Rozanov for a period but was expelled for mischief aimed at her teachers. Her father arranged with his industrialist friend S.I. Maltsov for her to be introduced to medicine as a factory assistant. Under Maltsov's influence, she was finally readmitted to the gymnasium, matriculating with honors in 1885.

She continued her education in Saint Petersburg, attending the medical courses of anatomy professor Peter Lesgaft. While there, she became involved in the revolutionary youth movement, participating in the populist circle of Victor Alexandrovich Veynshtok. Along with other members of the group, she was arrested in 1892. The police returned her to Slobodishche.

Keen to continue her studies, but unable to do so in Russia, Vera Ignatievna arranged a marriage of convenience with a friend from Saint Petersburg, Nikolai Belozerov. Belozerov's military career took him to Irkutsk in Siberia, while Vera Ignatievna used her new name to obtain a passport and slip into Switzerland. She entered the University of Lausanne, where she trained to be a surgeon in the clinic of professor César Roux, graduating in 1898. Earning almost perfect marks, she received her diploma as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery.

Upon receipt of her diploma, Vera Ignatievna first worked as an intern in a therapy clinic but was soon posted as a junior assistant to Roux. Carrying out scientific studies, she became Roux's senior assistant and he subsequently offered her the post of Privatdozent. Later Vera Ignatievna received a pleading letter from her father. He advised that her sister Alexandra had died from tuberculosis and her mother was suffering from nervous exhaustion. He urged her to return and assist him, promising to help her secure work in a new 10-bed factory hospital that was being built. Believing she had a responsibility to her family, she reluctantly returned to Slobodishche in 1900.

Career

On her return, Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was immediately hired at the Maltsov Cement Factory in the Zhizdrinsky District of the Kaluga Oblast as the plant's physician. By 1901, she had performed 248 operations with minimal fatalities, including amputations, herniation repair, and setting broken bones, many caused by the difficult working conditions of the laborers. Inadequate safety practices by the factory meant that there was a high risk of industrial accidents and the cement dust caused many eye problems. Concerned about the overall health of the workers, Vera Ignatievna made a list of recommendations for factory administrators, including cleaning the wells, providing washing tubs, and serving hot meals.

In addition to her hospital work, Vera Ignatievna published scientific articles in Russian medical journals, which began to be noticed and reprinted in German and French. Invited to participate in the Third Congress of Surgeons in 1902, she presented a report on the surgery performed in 1901 on a male patient suffering from a deformation of the hip joints, which was so severe he could not stand or sit comfortably. Following a complex surgery, within four months the patient was able to walk without crutches. Her detailed report showed a thorough knowledge of the surgical work of predecessors in the field, including John Rhea Barton, F.J. Gant, Bernhard von Langenbeck, Jules Germain François Maisonneuve, and Richard von Volkmann.

Wanting to leave the provincial life because of the difficult working conditions, the poverty of the workers, and family issues, Vera Ignatievna was required to attain Russian credentials to practice medicine elsewhere in Russia. In spite of her Swiss degree, she had to obtain certifications to meet the requirements of the University of Moscow.

In 1902, Vera Ignatievna asked permission to test for the Latin requirement at the Oryol Gubernatorial Gymnasium. Having been under the watch of the police since her arrest in 1892, she was required to get a statement of character before the examination was allowed. After successfully passing her exams, she earned the title of a female doctor and on 21 February 1903, received her diploma, allowing her to practice medicine throughout the country. The continuing ill-health of her parents, her long working hours, and the collapse of her relationship with her lover from Switzerland, led to a suicide attempt in 1903.

In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Vera Ignatievna volunteered to go to the front with the Red Cross. In the first month of the war, she treated 1,255 patients, including over 100 patients with head wounds and 61 patients with abdominal wounds.

Though many Russian, as well as French and British, military surgeons had discarded the idea of treating abdominal wounds, she recognized that early intervention was key. Standard treatment at the time required the patient to be placed in a semi-reclining position so that the wound could drain. Vera Ignatievna was the first to perform laparotomies on military patients, having extensive experience in abdominal surgery for hernias, the most frequent surgery she performed in the cement factory hospital. Her procedure required that the patient undergo the operation within three hours of receiving a wound. Her success rate was high, leading to recommendations being made in international medical journals to adopt mobile surgical units which allowed for rapid treatment. The Russian Army and the Russian Society of Military Doctors officially adopted Gedroits' operative procedures.

With the Russian defeat, Vera Ignatievna helped organize the hospital evacuation from near the Fushun Mining region, which was performed under gunfire because the Russian troops refused to retreat until the patients were moved. In 1905, she returned to the Maltsov Factory Hospital as chief surgeon and was appointed chief doctor of the Lyudinovskaya Hospital. Compiling a 57-page report on her work during the war, which included illustrations, Vera Ignatievna presented her results on 27 July 1905 to the Society of Military Doctors. She was awarded the gold medal of diligence from the Order of Saint Anna by the army commander for her actions during the Battle of Mukden, the Ribbon of Saint George with the silver medal "For Bravery" by General N. Plinevich for her treatment of the wounded, the three highest distinctions from the Russian Red Cross, and recognition by the Royal family in the form of the silver neck medal of the Order of Saint Vladimir.

At the Maltsov factory, Vera Ignatievna continued to see many chronic diseases and began cataloging the cases of bone tuberculosis, infection, and an inguinal hernia for future scientific study. She recommended that special institutions designed to treat chronic patients be established.

Vera Ignatievna published 17 scientific papers between 1902 and 1909. In addition to hernias and industrial injuries, her publications also covered surgeries for obstetrics, the thyroid gland, and various tumors which she had seen in her patients.

The Lyudinovskaya Hospital was originally associated with the Lyudinovskaya Mining Plant but was turned into a surgical hospital serving the nearby communities of the district. Vera Ignatievna utilized her Swiss education and battlefield experiences as a basis for bringing it up to modern European standards. In addition to her work in the hospital, she made numerous housecalls, and over a five-year period, reported she had visited 125,363 patients. She received a municipal commendation from the City Council for her merits as a surgeon in 1908.

In 1909, at the invitation of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Vera Ignatievna became the senior resident physician at the Tsarskoye Selo Court Hospital. As the royal household's first female physician and the second-highest-ranking member of the hospital's staff, she headed the Departments of Surgery and Gynecology/Obstetrics, while acting as the attending physician for the royal children.

In parallel, Vera Ignatievna was compiling a thesis based on research from her factory days. She successfully earned her doctorate of surgery, the first woman to achieve the distinction from the University of Moscow, on 11 May 1912, after defending her thesis Long-term results of inguinal hernia operations using the protocol of Professor Roux based upon 268 operations.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Vera Ignatievna worked on equipping the hospital and preparing the staff for war. She taught nursing techniques to the Tsarina and her daughters, Olga and Tatiana, and they became assistants to her in her surgical operations. One of the other nurses she trained at Tsarskoye Selo, Countess Maria Dmitrievna Nirod, would later become Gedroits' life-long partner. Raising funds from the nobles, the hospital was equipped to enable rapid treatment, so that soldiers would not have to be sent to Petrograd, as Saint Petersburg was now known.

By the end of 1914, Vera Ignatievna was mainly involved in serving as the palace physician. Periodically, she would go to the front to compensate for the absence of other surgeons. In one episode in 1916, she performed over 30 operations, mostly trepannings, over a three-day period.

When the February Revolution began in 1917, Vera Ignatievna, as an employee of the Tsar, could not openly support the Russian Provisional Government. In order to remain neutral in the conflict, while still honoring her friendship with the royal family, she chose to return to work as a military doctor. Having worked for the Tsar, it would have been very unsafe to remain in Petrograd after Tsar Nicholas abdicated. Aged 44, she altered the birth information in her passport and was appointed as chief physician for the 6th Siberian Rifle Regiment. Sent to the front, Vera Ignatievna served the wounded at the Battle of Galicia in June and July 1917 and was then transferred to the 5th Siberian Rifle Corps as a divisional surgeon, a rank comparable to lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Russian Army. During the demobilization after the October Revolution, Vera Ignatievna was injured in January 1918 and taken to a military hospital in the Pechersk neighborhood of Kiev.

While recuperating, Vera Ignatievna moved in with Countess Nirod, with whom she lived for the remainder of her days. She published two poems in the Banner of Labor in 1918, The Temptation of St. Anthony and Galician Stories, which reflected on her war impressions. As soon as Vera Ignatievna was able to return to work, she began working in the hospital of the Intercession Monastery and by 1919 had established a clinic to perform maxillofacial surgery. In 1920, when the Kiev Medical Institute organized a surgery department, she was invited by Yevgeny Tcherniakhovsky to join the faculty. In 1921, she began working as an external lecturer, teaching a course on pediatric surgery. She was appointed as a professor of medicine in 1923 and entered a period of publishing as an academic surgeon. In 1924, Vera Ignatievna published a paper on nutrition and in 1928 wrote an article on surgical procedures for treating tuberculosis in the knee. She published a textbook on pediatric surgery; wrote extensively for surgical journals with articles on surgery, endocrinology, and oncology; and participated in surgical conferences.

In 1929, following Tcherniakhovsky's arrest, Vera Ignatievna became the departmental head of surgery. But the following year, during the Soviet purge, she was removed from her post and denied a pension. Using funds she had saved, she purchased a house on the outskirts of Kiev, where she and Nirod moved together. Continuing to work as a surgeon from time to time at the Intercession Monastery's hospital, she devoted the next two years to writing, publishing a series of fictionalized autobiographies.

Vera Ignatievna with cancer in 1931, died in March 1932, aged 61, of uterine cancer. She was buried in the Savior-Transfiguration Cemetery, also known as the Korchevat cemetery, of Kiev, by the Archbishop Ermogen (born Alexei Stepanovich Golubev), who had been a patient of hers.

Achievements

Vera Ignatievna challenged established medical procedures at the beginning of the 20th century and her success with abdominal wound treatment played a part in changing international military medical policy. She is remembered as a pioneer in applying laparotomy for the treatment of abdominal wounds on the battlefront. Vera Ignatievna was one of Russia's first women to work as a surgeon, the first woman to become a professor of surgery, the first woman to work as a military doctor, and the first woman to serve as a doctor in the imperial palace.

The hospital in Fokino, Bryansk Oblast was named in Gedroits' honor and a memorial plaque was dedicated to her memory in front of the former Tsarskoe Selo palace hospital in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg.

Works

book
- Life
  
  (The book was fictionalized, but different factual accurac...)
  1931
- Veg
  
  (Collection of poems.)
  1913
- Red Angel
  
  (Collection of poems.)
  1914
- Chinese Stories
  1913
poem
- Don Juan
  
  (A belated tribute to modernism in the taste of O. Wilde.)
  1916

Personality

Vera Ignatievna made no attempt to conceal her lesbian inclinations and spoke of herself using masculine verb forms. She was dressing almost exclusively in men's trousers and suits. Vera also spoke in a deep-pitched voice and frequently smoked. Besides her appearance, she began seeking the acquaintance and company of literary figures. In her youth, Vera Ignatievna had published a collection of poems in 1887, but now she joined the Poets' Guild, publishing her poems under the pen name Sergei Gedroits in such journals as Bright Light, Covenants, and The Theosophical Gazette, among others. In 1910, she privately published the anthology Poems and Fairytales in Saint Petersburg, and though the critical response was not enthusiastic, that same year she published Pages from the Life of a Factory Doctor.

She published a second volume of poetry Veg (representing the beginning letters of her names) in 1913. Once again the critical response, though improved, noted the lassitude and lack of passion in the verse. Her Chinese Tales was published in Precepts magazine in 1913 and a collection of folk poems titled the Red Angel was published in 1914.

Physical Characteristics: Vera Ignatievna had a tall, taller than many men, overweight figure, and at the same time had delicate and expressive features. She spoke in a low voice and had great physical strength. She wore a pantsuit, a jacket with a tie, men's hats, a fur coat with a beaver collar, and cut her hair short.

Interests

Playing the violin.

Connections

Vera Ignatievna decided in 1905 to disentangle herself from her marriage and was divorced on 22 December 1905. Her maiden name and her noble title were restored on 1 February 1907.

Father:: Ignatiy Ignatievich Gedroits
Mother:: Daria Konstantinovna Mikhau
Spouse:: Nikolai Belozerov
Sister:: Maria
Brother:: Ignatius
Sister:: Nadezhda
Sister:: Alexandra
Brother:: Sergei
grandmother:: Natalia Mikhau
life partner:: Maria Nirod

References

Russian writers. 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1
1989

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