Who is Vera Gedroits, the surgeon who revolutionized war medicine | Culture entertainment

Two things distinguish Vera Gedroitz: her passion for medicine and her revolutionary essence.

Who can imagine a princess who becomes obsessed with medicine?

when she was young. Vera was a troublemaker who wore “men’s clothes” because it was more comfortable for her; Moreover, her brothers saw her as an innate leader. They also kicked her out of school for playing tricks on her teachers. Years later, while studying to become a doctor, she joined revolutionary youth groups, which led to her arrest in 1892.

Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroitz, a Lithuanian king, was born on April 19, 151 years old, in 1870, in the Oryol Province of the Russian Empire (Ukraine). She was the third of five siblings, in a family whose mother came from Germany and whose father belonged to the Kings of Lithuania.

According to journalist Alberto Lopez from the newspaper CountryVera’s desire to be a doctor was born after the death of her brother Sergey, who had a close relationship with the iconic medicine figure. From that crucial moment in his life, his goal was to avoid the suffering of others.

Determined to study, as she was banned from her in Russia, she forged an affair with one of her close friends and married him to travel to Switzerland. There is a major in Surgery and graduates with Distinguished degrees. Although he was later forced to return to Russia due to family disputes.

In 1900, he returned home and began working on a cement factory. However, since she was the only doctor in the region, she also took care of the peasants. The conditions in which the communities lived were deplorable: they did not have good hygiene or good nutrition, and the work environment was unhealthy. So it turns out that his working life is a lot more complicated than it looks.

Nevertheless, Vera Giederwitz found the time to write papers on advanced surgery that is gaining ground in Europe. His writings have been translated into French and German.

Tired of the situation in which she lives, she managed to get a Russian doctor’s degree – because so far she only has a Swiss title – and this allowed her to practice in other parts of the country.

But peace disappeared in her life since the outbreak of the war, and she participated as a volunteer.

During this time he performed abdominal operations (abdominal surgery) for soldiers with acupuncture wounds. They interfered with the soldiers as soon as they were hit, and succeeded in making this practice common throughout Russia.

Not only did Vera start practicing a type of medication that hadn’t been used before, but all of the operations were performed on a hospital train. This was an equipped vehicle that was installed directly on the battlefield, where she was the leader.

In 1909, after the war, she was appointed chief medical officer at the court hospital, and was summoned by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. There he was responsible for being a pediatrician for royal children and heading the departments of surgery, gynecology and obstetrics. In addition, she began teaching basic medicine lessons to Empress Alexandra and her two daughters Tatiana and Olga, who during the early World War I helped her treat war-wounded as nurses.

After the Russian Revolution, she continued her career in many health centers and worked as a teacher, until one of the Stalinist purges removed her from her position.

However, thanks to his life savings, he bought a house and lived the rest of his years with Maria Nirud, a countess whom he met while working at the court and who would become his partner.

Over the years, Dr. Vera devoted herself to writing and publishing works of medicine as fiction, until her death in March 1932, of uterine cancer, after a life devoted to medicine and aid to war victims and relief. violence. (I)