Hess, Orvan Walter

▪ 2003

      American obstetrician and gynecologist (b. June 18, 1906, Margaretville, N.Y.—d. Sept. 6, 2002, New Haven, Conn.), developed the first fetal heart monitor, at the Yale University Medical School, in 1957. The device, which allowed monitoring to continue during labour, became, except for ultrasound, the most-used technique in obstetrics. Hess also played a major part in the initial successful employment of penicillin clinically, when in 1942 he saved the life of an obstetrical patient suffering from a streptococcal infection.

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