44 Facts About Vera Gedroits

Vera Gedroits was the first woman military surgeon in Russia, the first woman professor of surgery, and the first woman to serve as a physician to the Imperial Court of Russia.

At the beginning of the Revolution, Vera Gedroits returned to the battle front.

Vera Gedroits turned her attention to writing autobiographical novels until her death from uterine cancer in 1932.

Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was born on 7 April 1870 OS.

Vera Gedroits's parents were Daria Konstantinovna Mikhau and Prince Ignatiy Ignatievich Gedroits.

Vera Gedroits was the middle child among five living siblings, Maria, Ignatius, Nadezhda, and Alexandra.

The lively Vera Gedroits became the children's ringleader, often dressing in boys' clothes for convenience.

Vera Gedroits's father arranged with his industrialist friend Sergei Maltsov for her to be introduced to medicine as a factory assistant.

Vera Gedroits continued her education in St Petersburg, attending the medical courses of the anatomy professor Peter Lesgaft.

Keen to continue her studies, but unable to do so in Russia, Vera Gedroits arranged a marriage of convenience with a friend from St Petersburg, Nikolai Belozerov.

Belozerov's military career took him to Irkutsk in Siberia, while Vera Gedroits used her new name to obtain a passport and slip into Switzerland.

Vera Gedroits entered the University of Lausanne, where she trained to be a surgeon in the clinic of professor Cesar Roux, graduating in 1898.

Vera Gedroits began an ardent lesbian affair, but was forced to return to Russia when she received a pleading letter from her father.

Vera Gedroits advised that her sister Alexandra had died from tuberculosis and her mother was suffering from nervous exhaustion.

Vera Gedroits urged her to return and assist him, promising to help her secure work in a new 10-bed factory hospital which was being built.

On her return, Vera Gedroits was immediately hired at the Maltsov Cement Factory in the Zhizdrinsky District of the Kaluga Oblast as the plant's physician.

Concerned about the overall health of the workers, Gedroits made a list of recommendations for factory administrators, including cleaning the wells, providing washing tubs, and serving hot meals.

In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Vera Gedroits volunteered to go to the front with the Red Cross.

Vera Gedroits was appointed chief surgeon of the hospital train, which consisted of an operating car and five patient cars.

Vera Gedroits was the first to perform laparotomies on military patients, having extensive experience in abdominal surgery for hernias, the most frequent surgery she performed in the cement factory hospital.

Vera Gedroits's procedure required that the patient undergo the operation within three hours of receiving a wound.

Vera Gedroits was credited with saving the life of Vasily Gurko, as well as that of a Japanese prince.

Vera Gedroits was awarded the gold medal of diligence from the Order of Saint Anna by the army commander for her actions during the Battle of Mukden, the Ribbon of Saint George with the silver medal "For Bravery" by General N Plinevich for her treatment of the wounded, the three highest distinctions from the Russian Red Cross, and recognition by the Imperial family in the form of the silver neck medal of the Order of Saint Vladimir.

Vera Gedroits decided in 1905 to disentangle herself from her marriage and was divorced on 22 December 1905.

Vera Gedroits recommended that special institutions designed to treat chronic patients be established.

Vera Gedroits's operating experiences included abdominal and chest wounds, amputations, ectopic pregnancy, facial and tendon reconstructions, intestinal resection, hysterectomy, skull trepanation, and setting bones.

Vera Gedroits utilized her Swiss education and battlefield experiences as a basis for bringing it up to modern European standards.

Vera Gedroits expanded the facility and equipped it with new surgical implements, including white gowns, threads, and gloves.

Vera Gedroits obtained apparatuses like the D'Arsonval and Tesla high-frequency current instruments and x-ray machines, promoted the use of ether rather than chloroform for anesthesia, and selected special garments for patients and their bed linens, all of which were innovative measures for her time.

Vera Gedroits established a pathology and anatomy archive and cooperative agreements with Philip Markowitz Blumenthal's chemical and bacteriological institute on Lubyanka Square in Moscow to improve diagnostics.

Vera Gedroits received a municipal commendation from the City Council for her merits as a surgeon in 1908.

In 1909, at the invitation of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Vera Gedroits became the senior resident physician at the Tsarskoye Selo Court Hospital, "with a salary of 2,100 rubles and a state apartment".

Vera Gedroits spoke in a deep-pitched voice and frequently smoked.

In parallel, Vera Gedroits was compiling a thesis based on research from her factory days.

Vera Gedroits taught nursing techniques to the Tsarina and her daughters, Olga and Tatiana, and they became assistants to her in her surgical operations.

Vera Gedroits did have enough influence left to garner a transfer of Nikolai Gumilev from Ulansky Regiment to the Alexandria Hussar Regiment.

Periodically, Vera Gedroits would go to the front to compensate for the absence of other surgeons.

Vera Gedroits was appointed as a professor of medicine in 1923 and entered a period of publishing as an academic surgeon.

Vera Gedroits published a textbook on pediatric surgery; wrote extensively for surgical journals with articles on surgery, endocrinology and oncology; and participated in surgical conferences.

In 1929, following Tcherniakhovsky's arrest, Vera Gedroits became the departmental head of surgery.

Vera Gedroits left her personal papers to her neighbors, the painters Irina Avdiyeva and her husband Leonid Povolotsky.

Vera Gedroits challenged established medical procedure at the beginning of the 20th century and her success with abdominal wound treatment played a part in changing international military medical policy.

Vera Gedroits is remembered as a pioneer in applying laparotomy for the treatment of abdominal wounds on the battlefront.

Vera Gedroits was one of Russia's first women to work as a surgeon, the first woman to become a professor of surgery, the first woman to work as a military doctor, and the first woman to serve as a doctor in the imperial palace.