William Osler Abbott

William Osler Abbott
American physician, gastroenterologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Born	(1902-07-26)26 July 1902 New Bedford, Massachusetts
Died	10 September 1943(1943-09-10) (Age 41)
Nationality	American
Fields	Medicine
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Known for	Miller-Abbott tube, Abbott Rawson tube

William Osler Abbott (1902 – 1943) was a United States physician, son of Dr. Alexander C. Abbott and Georgina Osler. His most notable contribution to the field of medicine was his part in the development of the Miller-Abbott tube, used in decompression and stenting of the small intestine, alongside Thomas Grier Miller, and also for devising the Abbot Rawson tube. Abbot received his MD in 1928 from the University of Pennsylvania. He died of myelogenous leukemia in Waquoit, Massachusetts on September 10, 1943.

William Osler Abbott was born July 26, 1902 in New Bedford, MA. He was given the nickname "pete" growing up. His father, Alexander Abbott, was a member of the resident staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his mother, Georgina Osler, was a niece of William Osler. His parents met while his mother was taking care of Osler's home in Baltimore. His family would vacation at Waquoit a lot in the summers, which is where he came to love everything about the sea. At just the young age of 10, Abbott would skin the fish in jars of water and put the bones and cartilage together with fine wire and when he was only 15, he could sail 30 miles at night from Waquoit to Nantucket. William Osler Abbott married a young lady from Kansas City named Lucy Waldo in 1928. The newly married Abbotts spent their honeymoon in an open dory sailing among Cape Cod's Elizabeth Islands. They had three children, Thomas William Osler, Ann Gatewood, and Lucy Featherstone.

William Osler Abbott received his A.B. in 1925 and M.D. in 1928 from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating he worked as an intern in a Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. From 1931 to 1934 he had experience working part-time with the Department of Pharmacology, and he also co-founded the Miller Abbott Tube in 1934, which is a double lumen drainage intestinal tube for relief of distention. His partner was T. Grier Miller who worked with him from 1930 to 1934 when they founded the Miller Abbott Tube. In the midst of being part-time with the Department of Pharmacology, Abbott was working his way up the ladder at Penn. He Joined the Gastro Intestinal clinic at Penn and was first recognized as a Medical fellow from 1930 to 1931. From 1931 to 1937 he was known as an instructor at Penn. In the year 1937, Abbott worked with a man named Arthur Joy Rawson creating the Abbott Rawson Tube, which is a double barreled Gastroenterostomy tube for use in postoperative care. From an instructor he was now named associate from the year 1937 to 1941. Abbott was known as a professor of medicine at Penn, however the following year he brought his expertise to the U.S. Army. When Abbott joined the U.S. Army he was already the rank of a major. Shortly, being discharged due to his diagnosis of leukemia. After fabricating his double lumen tube, Abbott would initially swallow the tube in the morning at his home on the Main Line outside of Philadelphia, ride to work on the train with the proximal end exiting his nose and curled around his ear or leaving his mouth beside a pipe and residing in a coat pocket. Once in the hospital the intubation continued under fluoroscopic guidance. With the fundamentals of a practical technique of intubation established, he began his investigations of the absorptive capacity of the gut and the effect of drugs on the intestine in December 1932. On May 15, 1942 Abbott, a major in the Medical Corps, left Philadelphia with the 20th General Hospital for Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Eight days later while undergoing a physical examination a large spleen was detected and blood studies led to a diagnosis of Myelogenous leukemia. Abbott's remaining months of life were spent researching his cancerous disease.