May 7 – On This Day in Medical History

What happened on May 7? Explore notable medical events, breakthroughs, births and deaths from across history in LITFL’s On This Day (OTD)

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with May 7.

Events

1897Leonardo Gigli (1863-1908) newly designed wire saw enabled the “lateralised pubiotomy” (Gigli’s operation). The first successful operation on a living patient was performed by Dr B. Bonardi in Lugano on May 7, 1897. Note: Gigli himself reportedly did not perform the procedure on a live patient until 1902.


Births

No major medical milestones added for this date yet — this page is being expanded


Deaths

1939Richard Clarke Cabot (1868-1939), American physician. Described Cabot- Locke murmur (1903); Cabot Rings (1903); and formally introduced the term “Courvoisier’s Law


Further reading

BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |