The Ponseti Method

Edward A. Wasserman

doi:10.1017/9781108774895.014

7 - The Ponseti Method

Effective Treatment for Clubfoot Only 2,400 Years in the Making

from Part II - Medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2021

Edward A. Wasserman

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Edward A. Wasserman: Affiliation:
University of Iowa

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Summary

If you were born after 1953, then Virginia Apgar may have been responsible for devising your first test – given within 5 minutes of delivery. If you passed, then you might not take much note of Apgar’s historic contribution to medicine. However, if you failed, then you might want to credit her with what may have been the lifesaving care you received – precisely because you scored poorly. It is estimated that millions of at-risk infants have been saved from needless death because of the early warning signs detected with the Apgar Score. How Apgar came to devise, test, and publicize her test is an inspiring story in which persistence in the face of disappointment and discrimination can yield great success. Apgar’s story also underscores the importance of flexibility – changing your aspirations as conditions change. Such flexibility is inherent in how all organisms learn to cope with the changing challenges of survival.

Keywords

Virginia Apgar Apgar Score backronym newborn stillborn maternal anesthesia birth defect neonatology March of Dimes

Type: Chapter
Information: As If By Design
How Creative Behaviors Really Evolve
, pp. 77 - 87

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108774895.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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