Orvan Walter Hess (June 18, 1906 – September 6, 2002) was an American physician noted for his early use of

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

and the development of the

fetal heart monitor Cardiotocography (CTG) is a technique used to monitor the fetal heartbeat and the uterine contractions during pregnancy and labour. The machine used to perform the monitoring is called a cardiotocograph. Fetal heart sounds was described as early ...

. Hess was born in Baoba, Pennsylvania. At the age of two, after his mother's death, the family moved to

Margaretville, New York Margaretville is a village in Delaware County, New York, United States. The population was 596 at the 2010 census. The village is in the town of Middletown, on the border of the Catskill Park. Geography Margaretville is located near the geogra ...

where he grew up. Hess was inspired by Doctor

Gordon Bostwick Maurer Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

—who started Margaretville's first hospital in 1925— to study medicine. He married Dr. Maurer's sister, Carol Maurer, in 1928. Hess went to

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

and was graduated in 1927, and received his MD from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. He completed an internship at Children's Hospital in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

and became an

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

and

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

. For most of his career, Hess practiced at

Yale-New Haven Hospital Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Have ...

, interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

service as a surgeon in the 48th Armored Medical Battalion attached to the 2nd Armored Division in the invasions of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. He was clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

. He also served as president of the Connecticut State Medical Society, and director of health services for the Connecticut Welfare Department. Hess died in New Haven at the age of 96. Hess was predeceased by his wife Carol in 1998. He is survived by two daughters, Dr. Katherine Halloran of Lexington, and Carolyn Westerfield of Hamden; five grandchildren; and five great-granddaughters.

Early use of penicillin

On March 14, 1942,

John Bumstead John Bumstead (born 27 November 1958) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Chelsea, where he spent most of his career, and Charlton Athletic. Club career Bumstead started his career in the Chels ...

and Hess became the first doctors in the world to successfully treat a patient (Anne Miller) with

. Hess received the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

's Scientific Achievement Award in 1979 for his work on this case.

Fetal heart monitor development

Hess began working on a

in the 1930s as a research fellow at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

due to his frustration with the limitations of using a stethoscope on a subject with two heartbeats and undergoing contractions. In 1949, after World War II, Hess returned to Yale and resumed his work, along with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Edward Hon. In 1957, using a six-and-a-half-foot-tall machine, they became the first in the world to ''continuously monitor'' electrical cardiac signals from a fetus. Through the 1960s, working with Wasil Kitvenko, the chief of the medical school's electronics laboratory, Dr. Hess continued to improve on the equipment, introducing telemetry and reducing the monitor's size. The device, which allowed monitoring to continue during labor, became one of the most-used tests in

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

. The original machine still resides today in the basement of a building just outside the city of Hartford called the "Hartford Medical Society."

References

* * with * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Orvan 1906 births 2002 deaths People from the Catskills Physicians from New Haven, Connecticut American obstetricians American gynecologists University at Buffalo alumni Yale School of Medicine faculty United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American inventors United States Army Medical Corps officers