July 11th, 1985

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY.com! in 1985, Dr. H. Harlan Stone announced that he had used zippers instead of stitches on 28 patients. He explained that the zippers were used when he believed he may have to re-operate. While the technique was revolutionary, Stone, a graduate of Yale and Emory, remained wholly conservative in one respect. He was able to choose zippers of any color, but he admitted, “I felt we ought to have proper hospital white. Pastels are not really appropriate.” Dr. Stone subsequently lost two medical malpractice lawsuits, but the zipper manufacturing community was very quick to point out that neither case involved the patients who had zippers put in. The cases involved him covering up accidently killing a couple of patients during surgery and claiming it was natural causes.

About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
This entry was posted in 20th Century, Historical Facts and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to July 11th, 1985

  1. A. Stoned (Doctor) says:

    When I suggested using zippers on surgical patients a few years earlier, I got laughed at and kicked out of the hospital. I don’t know how that other doctor dude got away with it, but I wish I knew his secret, ‘cos being able to zip and unzip people would’ve been a hoot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *