Born on January 18, 1856, Daniel Hale Williams was the fifth of seven children to Daniel and Sarah Williams. His father was a barber that moved his family to Annapolis, MD but soon died of tuberculosis. Daniel’s mother could not manage all the kids on her own and sent a number of them to live with relatives.
Daniel was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Baltimore but soon ran away to join his mother who had moved to Rockford, IL. He then left to join his sister in Edgerton, WI moving to nearby Janesville where he became fascinated with the local physician, Dr. Henry Palmer. He apprenticed with Dr. Palmer for two years before entering the now known Northwestern University Medical School.
Daniel graduated in 1883 to open his own medical office in Chicago, IL. There were primitive social and medical conditions existing in this era and Dr. Williams was forced to treat many patients in their own homes. He was known to perform surgery on kitchen tables but he used the emerging sterilization methods and procedures of the day and quickly became known for his professionalism.
dr daniel hale williams at work
He became a surgeon on staff at South Side Dispensary and a clinical instructor in anatomy at his former college, Northwestern. He was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Health in 1889 and one year later set about to establish an interracial hospital. The Provident Hospital & Training School Association, a three-story building with 12-beds was founded to serve the community.
Several black nurses and doctors of all races were trained at the school. In just one year of operating, the Provident Hospital has treated more than 189 patients, 141 of these patients saw a complete recovery with only 22-deaths. This was significant success for a new hospital because Dr. Williams insisted on the highest standards for procedures and sanitary conditions.
On July 9, 1893 something revolutionary happened at Provident Hospital. James Cornish, a young black man was stabbed in the chest in a bar fight with a knife. By the time Cornish was transported to Provident, he had lost a considerable amount of blood and had gone into shock.
daniel williams open heart surgery patient
Dr. Williams made the decision to open the man’s chest cavity something that was unheard of in those days because such action often resulted in certain infection and the death of the patient. Dr. Williams repaired the man’s pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart, and sutured it. He then applied antiseptic procedures before closing his chest.
Fifty-one days later Cornish walked out of Provident Hospital fully recovered and would go on to live for another 50-years but Dr. Williams was too busy to document the procedure which allowed others to lay claim to be the first to perform open heart surgery.
Fortunately for Dr. Williams, local newspapers of the day did help to spread the news and he later received the acclaim he deserved. He was therefore noted as the first person to perform open heart surgery but more noteworthy; he was the first surgeon to successfully open a chest cavity without the patient dying of infection. His procedures were later used as standards for internal surgeries.
