John Blair Deaver

John Blair Deaver (July 25, 1855 - September 25, 1931) was an American surgeon, the chief of surgery at the German Hospital in Philadelphia.

Deaver was born in Buck, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1855 into a medical family. His father, Joshua Montgomery Deaver, was a country doctor, and his brothers Richard and Harold also became physicians. He attended West Nottingham Academy in Maryland and briefly became a teacher to pay for his medical education. Deaver graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1878, and interned at the Children's Hospital of the Mary Drexel Home and The German Hospital, now Lankenau Medical Center.

In his early days as a doctor, Deaver worked alongside his physician brothers making house calls and performing surgeries in patients' homes.

During his long career at Lankenau Hospital, Deaver was considered an innovator and sometimes a radical in the field of abdominal surgery. He revolutionized abdominal surgery, particularly the appendectomy. As a proponent of immediate surgery to address appendicitis, Deaver's approach was often considered aggressive at a time when surgical interventions were not the norm. However, he typically performed all surgical actions and thus placed responsibility on himself for both the decision to operate and the outcome of the procedure. "Cut well, get well, stay well," was a motto often repeated by Deaver. In 1924 he stated, "If when I am taken to my reward, I am known as nothing else, I shall be satisfied to have as my epitaph: 'He fought a good fight- his life was a continuous war on the vermiform appendix."

Deaver was appointed Chief of the Surgical Department at German Hospital in 1897, and held this position until 1931. He was appointed Surgeon-In-Chief shortly before his death. A phenomenally prolific surgeon, Deaver is estimated to have performed 100,000 procedures during the course of his medical career. He is the inventor of the Deaver Retractor, a medical instrument still in use during deep abdominal surgeries today.

Deaver taught Anatomy and Surgery at U. Penn, and was made John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery in 1918. He was also professor of surgery at the Women's Medical College, and a surgeon at the Philadelphia Hospital and the Kensington Hospital for Women. He was among the founders of the American College of Surgeons, President of the Interstate Post-Graduate Medical Association of North America, and member of many other surgical societies. He wrote five textbooks and nearly 250 articles.

In 1889, Deaver married Caroline Randall and they had four children: Elizabeth, John, Harriet, and Joshua. John B. Deaver's son, Joshua Montgomery Deaver, would also become a physician with a long career at Lankenau Medical Center.

He was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.