Medics
Reference · 25 names
Who's behind the name?
The show drops real anatomical and surgical eponyms into its satire almost as often as invented ones. This index is the difference: who each name really belongs to, and the moment it's said. We're adding to it as new episodes air.
| Name | Person | What it means | Hear it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hippocratesperson | Hippocrates of Kosc. 460–370 BC | Ancient Greek physician traditionally called the father of Western medicine. The ethical tradition of the Hippocratic Oath still carries his name. | Out of Touch · 7:44 |
| Sigmund Freudperson | Sigmund Freud1856–1939 | Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis. His 1905 book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious is the (real) premise behind this episode's (fictional) cure for physician burnout. | From Burnout to Punchlines: Freud's Solution · 1:04 |
| John Bobbs and the first gallbladder operationoperation | John Stough Bobbs1809–1870 | Indianapolis surgeon credited with the first cholecystotomy, opening the gallbladder to remove a stone, in 1867. | Out of Touch · 1:00 |
| McBurney's pointsign | Charles McBurney1845–1913 | The point on the abdomen, about a third of the way from the right hip bone to the navel, where tenderness classically signals appendicitis. Described by the American surgeon Charles McBurney in 1889. | Out of Touch · 1:25 |
| Reginald Heber Fitz and "appendicitis"discovery | Reginald Heber Fitz1843–1913 | American pathologist who coined the term "appendicitis" in an 1886 paper and argued for removing the appendix early, a case credited with launching the modern operation. | Out of Touch · 1:27 |
| Connell suturetechnique | F. G. Connelldescribed 1892 | An all-layer inverting stitch for closing the bowel, described by the American surgeon F. G. Connell. | Out of Touch · 3:03 |
| Lembert suturetechnique | Antoine Lembert1802–1851 | A stitch that turns the bowel's outer layer inward to seal an incision, described by the French surgeon Antoine Lembert in 1826 and still used today. | Out of Touch · 3:03 |
| Erle Peacock and wound healingperson | Erle E. Peacock Jr.1928–2005 | American surgeon and researcher whose studies of collagen and scar formation, including his textbook on wound repair, shaped modern understanding of how wounds heal. | Out of Touch · 3:07 |
| William Halstedperson | William Stewart Halsted1852–1922 | American surgeon who built the modern surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, insisting on gentle tissue handling, sterile technique and years of hands-on training before independent practice. | Out of Touch · 7:45 |
| William Oslerperson | William Osler1849–1919 | Canadian physician and one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital, often called the father of modern clinical medicine for insisting students learn at the bedside. | Out of Touch · 7:44 |
| Hesselbach's triangleanatomy | Franz Kaspar Hesselbach1759–1816 | A triangular area of the lower abdominal wall, bounded by the inferior epigastric vessels, the rectus muscle and the inguinal ligament, through which a direct inguinal hernia pushes. Described by the German anatomist and surgeon Franz Kaspar Hesselbach in 1806. | Pax Inguinalis (Part 2) · 4:54 |
| Bassini repairoperation | Edoardo Bassini1844–1924 | A technique for repairing inguinal hernias by reinforcing the layers of the abdominal wall, described by the Italian surgeon Edoardo Bassini in 1887. It was the standard hernia repair for most of the 20th century. | Pax Inguinalis: Negotiating a Just and Lasting Peace in the Inguinal Region (Part 1) · 1:53 |
| Camper's fasciaanatomy | Petrus Camper1722–1789 | The outer, fattier layer of the abdominal wall's tissue beneath the skin, named for the Dutch anatomist and physician Petrus Camper. | Pax Inguinalis: Negotiating a Just and Lasting Peace in the Inguinal Region (Part 1) · 1:59 |
| Scarpa's fasciaanatomy | Antonio Scarpa1752–1832 | The deeper, more fibrous layer of the abdominal wall's tissue beneath the skin, lying under Camper's fascia. Named for the Italian anatomist and surgeon Antonio Scarpa. | Pax Inguinalis: Negotiating a Just and Lasting Peace in the Inguinal Region (Part 1) · 1:53 |
| Parviz Amid and the triple neurectomyoperation | Parviz Amid20th–21st century | Hernia surgeon known for popularizing the triple neurectomy, removing three groin nerves, to treat chronic pain after hernia repair, and for publishing large case series on the procedure's results. | Pax Inguinalis (Part 3) · 15:09 |
| Mirizzi syndromesyndrome | Pablo Luis Mirizzi1893–1964 | A gallstone lodged in the neck of the gallbladder presses on the main bile duct and causes jaundice. First described by the Argentine surgeon Pablo Luis Mirizzi in 1948. | The Presidential Address of the International Brotherhood of Biliary Tract Workers · 5:18 |
| Ducts of Luschkaanatomy | Hubert von Luschka1820–1875 | Small accessory bile ducts that sometimes run directly from the liver into the gallbladder bed; if cut during gallbladder surgery, they can leak bile. Named for the German anatomist Hubert von Luschka. | The Presidential Address of the International Brotherhood of Biliary Tract Workers · 4:22 |
| Charcot's triadsign | Jean-Martin Charcot1825–1893 | Fever, jaundice and right-upper-abdominal pain together signal cholangitis, an infection of the bile ducts. Described by the French physician Jean-Martin Charcot, better known as a founder of modern neurology. | The Presidential Address of the International Brotherhood of Biliary Tract Workers · 3:17 Sylvia's Walker Balls · 2:00 |
| Billroth I and IIoperation | Theodor Billroth1829–1894 | The Austrian surgeon who performed the first successful stomach removal for cancer in 1881; the two ways of reconnecting the digestive tract afterward still carry his name, Billroth I and Billroth II. | Fourth and Gall (Play by Play Coverage) · 3:11 From Burnout to Punchlines: Freud's Solution · 5:32 |
| Kocher maneuvertechnique | Emil Theodor Kocher1841–1917 | A technique for mobilizing the duodenum to expose the structures behind it, described by the Swiss surgeon Emil Theodor Kocher, who won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the thyroid gland. | Fourth and Gall (Play by Play Coverage) · 13:39 |
| Fogarty catheterinstrument | Thomas Fogarty1934–2021 | A thin, balloon-tipped catheter used to pull blood clots and stones out of vessels and ducts. Invented in 1961 by Thomas Fogarty, then still a surgical technician, later a prolific American surgeon-inventor. | Fourth and Gall (Play by Play Coverage) · 14:03 |
| Ignaz Semmelweis and handwashingdiscovery | Ignaz Semmelweis1818–1865 | Hungarian physician who showed in 1847 that deaths from childbed fever on his maternity ward fell sharply once doctors washed their hands between the autopsy room and the delivery room. His colleagues largely dismissed him during his lifetime. | Fourth and Gall (Play by Play Coverage) · 17:24 From Burnout to Punchlines: Freud's Solution · 5:32 |
| Segura basketinstrument | Joseph Segura20th–21st century | A small wire basket threaded through an endoscope to snare and pull out stones from the bile duct or urinary tract, named for the American urologist Joseph Segura. | The Presidential Address of the International Brotherhood of Biliary Tract Workers · 6:19 |
| LaVeen shuntinstrument | Harry LaVeen1970s | A one-way tube implanted to drain fluid from the abdomen into a vein, developed in the 1970s by the American surgeon Harry LaVeen to treat severe ascites. | The Presidential Address of the International Brotherhood of Biliary Tract Workers · 10:58 |
| Robert Bárány and the caloric testdiscovery | Robert Bárány1876–1936 | Austrian-Swedish physician who won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for working out how the inner ear's balance system reacts to hot and cold water, the basis of the caloric reflex test still used in balance clinics and coma exams. | The Iceman Cometh and the Patient Goeth · 4:38 |
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