George Washington Crile (November 11, 1864 – January 7, 1943) was an American surgeon. Crile is now formally recognized as the first surgeon to have succeeded in a direct blood transfusion. He contributed to other procedures, such as neck dissection. Crile designed a small hemostatic forceps which bears his name; the Crile mosquito clamp. He also described a technique for using opioids, regional anesthesia and general anesthesia which is a concept known as balanced anesthesia. He is also known for co-founding the Cleveland Clinic in 1921.

Early life

Crile was born in Chili, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio Northern University in 1885. In 1887, he received his M.D. from Wooster Medical College which merged to form modern day Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He did further study at Vienna, London and Paris.

Career

He taught at Wooster from 1889 to 1900. He was professor of clinical medicine at Western Reserve University from 1900 to 1911, and was then made professor of surgery. Crile was responsible for whole blood transfusion, in 1906, and he spurred the use of the new X-ray machines.

  • Man an Adaptive Mechanism (1916) The Fallacy of the German State Philosophy (1918)
  • The U.S. Army's Crile General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio was named in his honor on 21 April 1944.
  • The lunar crater Crile is also named after him.

Personal life

He married Grace Elizabeth McBride (1876–1948), a sister of David Reed. His son, George Crile Jr., was also a surgeon. His grandson George Crile III was a journalist, author, and CBS producer.

He died on January 7, 1943, in Cleveland. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

References

Further reading

  • Yentis SM, Hirsch NP, Smith GB editors, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care A-Z, Elsevier Ltd, London, 2000
  • Geroulanos, Stefanos and Todd Meyers, The Human Body in the Age of Catastrophe: Brittleness, Integration, Science, and the Great War, University of Chicago Press, 2018. ISBN 9780226556598. Chapter 2.

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