Robert Andrew Hingson

"Hingson" redirects here. For other uses, see Hingson (disambiguation).

Robert Andrew Hingson
Born	Robert Andrew Hingson (1913-05-13)May 13, 1913
October 9, 1996(1996-10-09) (aged 82)October 9, 1996(1996-10-09) (aged 82)
🏳️ Nationality	American
🎓 Alma mater	Emory University School of Medicine
💼 Occupation
Known for	Western Reserve Anesthesia Machine, Continuous Caudal Anesthesia Epidural administration, "Peace Gun" Hypospray Jet Injector mass-inoculation device
👩 Spouse(s)	Gussie Dickson
🏅 Awards	Labat Award (1981) - American Society of Regional Anesthesia President's Volunteer Action Award (1987)

Early Life

Robert Andrew Hingson was born on April 13, 1913 in Anniston, Alabama to Eloree Elizabeth Haynes Hingson and Robert Andrew Hingson. At an early age, Hingson demonstrated an early concern for suffering. Because of this, his parents encouraged him at first to go into the ministry. Instead, he chose the medical field and decided to be a physician.

Medical Career

After receiving his medical degree from the Emory University School of Medicine in 1938, Hingson embarked on a prestigious medical career. He interned at the U.S. Marine Hospital on Staten Island, New York in 1938. He also joined the United States Coast Guard as chief medical officer aboard several ships. While serving in the Atlantic, Hingson treated U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. who was suffering from an intense migraine, “blind from pain and on the verge of collapse.” As thanks, Morgenthau secured Hingson a position at the Mayo Clinic from 1939-1941. After World War II, he was the first professor of anesthesiology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. In 1948, he became a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The final move in his medical career came in 1968 when the University of Pittsburgh offered him three professorships, one at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a second at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, and a third at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. At the same time, he was made the Chief of Anesthesiology at Magee-Womens Hospital.

Inventions and Innovations

Known as a “tinkerer” among friends, Hingson developed several important medical devices such as the Western Reserve Anesthesia Machine, Oxygen Inhalator, and Resuscitator. With the help of colleague Waldo B. Edwards, he also developed the continuous caudal anesthesia epidural administration to alleviate the pain of childbirth. In 1938, Hingson developed a painless method of inoculating patients. Known as the jet injector or “peace gun,” this was perhaps his greatest contribution to medicine. The discovery was quite accidental. A sailor came to his hospital in Staten Island with a swollen hand. When Hingson examined the patient, he found that his hand was engorged with crude oil. Finding no entry wound, Hingson deduced that a high-pressure oil hose aboard the seaman’s vessel had developed a minute leak. A high-pressure jet of oil had then painlessly perforated the man’s thumb and filled his hand with oil. A fortuitous accident, Hingson not only healed the seaman but began research on a high-pressure injection system for medical use. Before Hingson’s innovation, inoculation as preventative medicine in underdeveloped countries was impractical because it was so time-consuming. But with the jet injector, inoculations could be administered at a rate of 1,000 patients per hour. The efficacy of Hingson’s mass inoculation technology was astonishing. For instance, in 1958, smallpox claimed 150 million victims worldwide. A mere decade later, there were only 65,000 cases. Hingson’s jet injector was also used around the world to inoculate against cholera, influenza, polio, and typhoid.

Brother's Brother Foundation

A tireless researcher, doctor, and innovator, Hingson’s passion for alleviating suffering continued to expand in scope. In 1958, he began a 100-day, 45,000-mile medical mission. Together with a team of doctors aboard a large plane, they visited Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East performing operations, administering vaccinations, and delivering medical supplies. Among the mission’s many accomplishments, in Gaza, the team vaccinated every child under the age of four against polio. Following this medical mission, Hingson formed Brother’s Keeper though, after a Nigerian medical student suggested that, “We don’t need a keeper; we need a brother,” the organization was renamed Brother’s Brother Foundation. Over time, the organization’s mission focused specifically on providing vaccinations and other kinds of medical assistance to impoverished regions of the world.

Awards

Robert Hingson was the recipient of many awards throughout his life. Among them were the Labat Award from the American Society of Regional Anesthesia in 1981 and President Reagan’s President's Volunteer Action Award in 1987. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Personal Life

Robert Hingson married Gussie Dickson in 1940. The couple had five children, the youngest of which—Luke Hingson—succeeded Robert as president of Brother’s Brother Foundation.

Death

Robert Hingson retired to Ocilla, Georgia in 1984. On October 9, 1996, he passed away at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lake City, Florida due to complications of polymyositis.

Further reading

Bryant, Cyril E. Operation Brother's Brother, Hamilton Books (2019), biography

Category:American humanists Category:American inventors Category:American medical researchers Category:Anesthesiology Category:1913 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Polio Category:Smallpox Category:20th-century American physicians

This article "Robert Andrew Hingson" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Robert Andrew Hingson. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.

---