Mar 30, 2012

National Doctor's Day

March 30, 2012  is National Doctor's Day. The first observance of Doctor’s Day was in 1933 observed in Winder, Georgia on the 91st anniversary of the first administration of anesthesia by Dr. Crawford W. Long in 1842. It was proclaimed a national day of celebration beginning in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush.

This first observance included the mailing greeting cards and placing flowers on graves of deceased doctors. The red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctor's Day.

Dr. Crawford W. Long performed the first operation while a patient was anesthetized by ether in 1842 as he removed a tumor from the neck of a boy.

This event has been celebrated as Doctors’ Day since this day in 1933. The idea of setting aside a day to honor physicians was conceived by Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond. Doctors throughout the United States celebrate in Dr. Crawford W. Long’s honor and, in honor of ether as an anesthetic.