A Sister's Blood Saves a Brother in Early Transfusion
After a pleurisy operation leaves George Moore hemorrhaging in Tacoma, doctors perform a direct blood transfusion from his sister, binding her wrist to his arm in a desperate bid to save his life.
Tacoma—To the devotion and self-sacrifice of his sister George Moore owes his life. Following an operation for pleurisy a hemorrhage developed and in order to arrest it and restore his strength transfusion was resorted to, his sister consenting to part with her own blood for his sake. An incision was made in her left wrist, which was bound to his left arm, in which an incision was made near the elbow.
“Following an operation for pleurisy a hemorrhage developed and in order to arrest it and restore his strength transfusion was resorted to, his sister consenting to part with her own blood for his sake.”
Blood transfusion was still experimental in 1909, with direct arm-to-arm methods and no reliable blood typing. The Tacoma case—a sister risking her own health to save her brother—highlights both the bravery of early patients and the rapid medical advances that would make transfusions routine.
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