An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

DeLEE, Joseph Bolivar

5 entries
  • 9530

Obstetrics for nurses.

Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1904.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: NURSING, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 12488

The principles and practice of obstetrics.

Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1913.

Digital facsimile of the 1914 printing from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 6251

The newer methods of cesarean section. Report of 40 cases.

J. Amer. med. Ass., 73, 91-95, 1919.

DeLee’s low cervical operation (laparotrachelotomy).



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS › Caesarian Section
  • 12489

The prophylactic forceps operation.

Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 1, 34-44, 1920.

DeLee's advocacy of prophylactic forceps delivery made forceps deliveries more common. It remains probably his most controversial contribution to obstetrics.

"At a meeting of the American Gynecological Society in 1920, DeLee sparked controversy when he presented a paper advocating for the use of a systematic approach to childbirth for physicians, including the use of forceps and episiotomy even in women who had no labor complications.[3] DeLee's "prophylactic forceps operation" consisted of several steps: scopolamine injections in the first stage of labor, ether anesthesia in the next stage, then episiotomy and forceps delivery. Ergot was used in the subsequent manual extraction of the placenta.[10] DeLee reasoned that the episiotomy prevented perineal tears which could cause complications like uterine prolapse and vesicovaginal fistula. He said that the early use of forceps would avoid pressure from the pelvic bones against a baby's head, thus preventing complications like epilepsy and cerebral palsy; DeLee said that fatal complications occurred in 4–5% of labors managed with the traditional conservative approach.[11] Though DeLee said that such interventions should only be carried out by a well-equipped physician specialist, John Whitridge Williams and other prominent obstetricians criticized DeLee sharply. They felt that DeLee was being too aggressive by removing a baby before complications occurred; DeLee's colleagues preferred to be conservative and to manage complications as they arose. (Wikipedia article on Joseph DeLee, accessed 4-2020).

Digital facsimile from academyofpelvicsurgery.com at this link.


Subjects: INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Forceps, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 12485

Sound motion pictures in obstetrics.

Journal of the Biological Photographic Assoc., 2, 60-68, 1933.

DeLee was one of the pioneers of filmmaking for the purpose of medical teaching. In this paper he described the necessary components of a medical film, including scripts, props, lighting, sound and expert staff members.

For a detailed account of DeLee's medical film productions see Caitjan Gainty, "A bit of Hollywood in the operating room," (2019) from medicineonscreen.nlm.nih.gov at this link. Here is an example of one of DeLee's films:



Subjects: IMAGING › Cinematography, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS