Robert McNees
Dr. Helen Taussig, who initiated the field of pediatric cardiology, was born #OTD in 1898.
She discovered the cause of "blue baby syndrome," helped develop its surgical correction, and was the first woman to serve as president of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Taussig was also largely responsible, along with Dr. Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey, for the FDA’s decision not to approve thalidomide in the 1960s.
Image: National Library of Medicine
Robert McNees
Dr. Taussig lost her hearing around the time she graduated from med school. She used lip-reading and hearing aids with patients, and her fingers in place of a stethoscope.
Not to mythologize how she dealt with the loss of her hearing, but colleagues remarked that her touch was sensitive enough to detect some forms of heart irregularities.
Image: Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
Robert McNees
@failedLyndonLaRouchite I'm glad you are okay! And I didn't know this about Thalidomide.
OddOpinions5
I have lymphoma (I'm ok, so no worries)
Thalidomide is, for lymphoma, a miracle drug; it just nukes the cancer
but when you are on this drug, EVERY MONTH you have to talk to a nurse who asks you a whole bunch of sex questions, to make sure you understand, NO PREGNANCIES while you are on this drug, and if you do get a woman pregnant, you need to talk to a doctor RIGHT AWAY
god alone knows what will happen in the fascist forced birther states: maybe a surge of flipper baby births ?
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