Charles Delucena Meigs

Charles Delucena Meigs
Charles Delucena Meigs
Born	February 19, 1792 St. George, Bermuda
Died	June 22, 1869(1869-06-22) (aged 77) Philadelphia, USA
Institutions	Jefferson Medical College
Known for	Obstetrics

Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs (February 19, 1792 - June 22, 1869) was an influential American obstetrician of the nineteenth century who is remembered for his opposition to obstetrical anesthesia and to the idea that physicians' hands could transmit disease to their patients.

Biography

Meigs was born February 19, 1792, in St. George, Bermuda, the son of Josiah Meigs and Clara Benjamin Meigs.^[1] He died June 22, 1869, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1817. In 1818 he was awarded an honorary degree of M.D. from Princeton University. Meigs specialized in obstetrics and was for a long time the acknowledged leader in this branch of medicine. In 1841, he became professor of obstetrics and diseases of women in the Jefferson Medical College, until his retirement in 1861.^[1]

Meigs was a lifelong opponent of obstetric anesthesia. In 1856, he warned against the morally "doubtful nature of any process that the physicians set up to contravene the operations of those natural and physiological forces that the Divinity has ordained us to enjoy or to suffer".^[2] He also opposed the idea that doctors could convey childbed fever (a disease) on his hands on the grounds that "Doctors are gentlemen and a gentleman's hands are clean".^[3]

A son, Montgomery C. Meigs (1816–1892), achieved distinction as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during the American Civil War.

Works

• Meigs, Charles Delucena (1854). On the Nature, Signs, and Treatment of Childbed Fevers: In a Series of Letters Addressed to the Students of His Class. Original from Harvard University (Digitized Nov 30, 2007), Retrieved Sep 1, 2008: Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia. pp. 362 pages. http://books.google.com/books?id=RigSAAAAYAAJ. 

• Meigs, Charles Delucena (1854). A Treatise on Acute and Chronic Diseases of the Neck of the Uterus. Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia. pp. 116 pages. http://books.google.com/books?id=dYgpPf8FuM8C. 

• Meigs, Charles Delucena (1st ed., 1849; 3rd ed., 1856; 4th ed., 1862; 5th ed., 1867). Treatise on Obstetrics: The Science and Art. Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia. http://books.google.com/books?id=j_MIosH0okEC&dq=Charles+Delucena+Meigs&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=ZIVSR0e4UH&sig=Oi50RTKz_1VYGVtz1bRxR8pS5CY&hl=en&ei=b0zKSsHvF8ywtgeFtLCcBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.meigs.org/charles219.htm
2. ^ http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/people/charlesdelucenameigs.html
3. ^ Meigs 1854:104

• 

  Charles D. Meigs

• 

  1856 treatise, front page

External links

• P M Dunn, Professor Charles D Meigs (1792-1869) of Philadelphia and persistent fetal circulation., Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 1994; 70; F155-F156

Persondata
Name	Meigs, Charles Delucena
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 19, 1792
Place of birth	St. George, Bermuda
Date of death	June 22, 1869
Place of death	Philadelphia, USA