Dr. Daniel Hale Williams Case

When you think of influential African-Americans the first couple of people you might think of might probably be Frederick Douglas, for his work in the abolitionist movement, or Madam C.J. Walker for her inventions of hair care products, or maybe even our first black president, Barack Obama. Although these are all influential people that have had an impact on American society today, I would have to say that the person with the most influence in my opinion has to be Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Dr. Williams was the first African-American cardiologist. He is also the first person to ever successfully perform open heart surgery. This was a big accomplishment in medical history.

Dr. Williams didn't live such a fancy life. He was the fifth out of seven children, and lost his dad at the early age of nine. Later on in life he became fascinated with the medical field and became an apprentice to the local physician Dr. Palmer. After three years, in 1883, he graduated from Chicago Medical School. Due to the medical and social circumstances in that time, most of his procedures were done in his patient's homes. However, he achieved a reputation of being a professional in his ways of doing things. Dr. Williams was shortly selected as a surgeon on the staff of the South Side Dispensary, and also became a clinical instructor in anatomy at Northwestern University. In 1891, he established the Provident Hospital and Training School Association. The hospital had 12 beds, and was open to anyone in the community.

Provident Hospital also was there to train black nurses. In its first year running, they treated 189 patients. Out of all, 141 achieved a complete recovery, 23 recovered significantly, 3 saw a change in their condition, and 22 patients died. Having an 87% success rate was a great achievement even with the lack of finances and conditions of the patients and the hospital. Dr. Williams influenced a lot with his persistent high standards concerning procedures and sanitary conditions. However, in 1893, Provident Hospital received one of its toughest patients, James Cornish. James was severely stabbed in the chest with a knife and had lost a lot of blood and was on the brink of dying. Williams then made the decision to cut open his chest and operate on him internally. This was something rarely heard of. 51 days later, James walked out of the hospital a healthy man again. For the first time, a surgeon was able to open the chest cavity without the patient dying from infection. His procedures from there on were used as standards for future internal surgeries.

In 1894 Dr. Williams was appointed as Chief Surgeon at the Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and reorganized the hospital creating seven medical and surgical departments. He gained tons of recognition from other doctors when they would come in from all over just to sit in and watch his surgeries performed. This created efficiency in surgeries completed and