Live Surgery Broadcast for the Michigan Clinical Institute Meeting
In March of 1958, Henry Ford Hospital, along with the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society, participated in a live surgical television broadcast. The film crew of Smith, Kline, and French Laboratories filmed Drs. D. Emerick Szilagyi and Roger F. Smith as they resected an aortic bifurcation and substituted a Dacron prosthesis. This milestone operation was televised throughout the state of Michigan. The work was part of the hospital's effort to broadcast medical education to the general public.
As part of the event, a 3-day detailed clinical program was available through closed circuit color television to the Michigan Clinical Institute Meeting which was being held at the Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. Under Dr. Brock Brush, chair of the Michigan Clinical Institute program committee, Henry Ford Hospital staff offered lectures, surgeries, and a medical discussion panel to the meeting attendees. The first day included sessions on hand surgery with a demonstration of anesthetic blocks by Drs. Hans Beyer and John W. Ditzler of the Anesthesiology Division, and Drs. Robert H. Crawford and Alexander P. Kelly of the Division of Plastic Surgery. The broadcast was full of suspense when a tendon was lost during the operation. The closing lecture of the day was by William C. Shafer, M.D. on the rehabilitation of the injured hand.
The following days included presentations on new procedures by leading hospital staff members, Drs. C. Leslie Mitchell and Joseph L. Fleming on Orthopedics; Drs. Conrad R. Lam and Robert F. Ziegler on Thoracic Surgery; and Drs. Clarence S. Livingood and Joseph Beninson on Dermatology.
Dr. D. Emerick Szilagyi (center) performing the first televised surgery at Henry Ford Hospital, 1958. From the Conrad R. Lam Collection, Henry Ford Health System.