Jayant Radhakrishnan
Chicago, Illinois, United States

Much of what we know about Dr. Max Thorek is from his informative and eminently readable autobiography A Surgeon’s World, which is sprinkled with entertaining and enlightening vignettes.¹

Max Thorek (1880–1960) was born in a town in the Tátra mountains on the Austro-Hungarian border. His father was a physician and his mother delivered babies. Even as a child, Max understood that he would be following in his father’s footsteps. Although people of many religions lived there, persecution of Jews came to a head when Max was seventeen years old and his younger brother, Philip, was murdered in a pogrom. The family escaped to Chicago expecting his uncle, Bernard Schwager, to help with travel and living expenses. Unfortunately, he was not the proverbial rich uncle and was of no help.

Max’s father was unable to obtain a medical license in the US as he had not put his professional papers together. Max’s mother was made of sterner stuff and went to work as a midwife in the slums of Chicago, earning enough to get them out of Uncle Bernard’s home. Max needed money and was a versatile violin player, so he joined an orchestra and became a successful, sought-after musician who earned good money. He also learned that he could apply for student aid at the University of Chicago if he joined their band. He applied, but Professor Hobson of the physics department and conductor of the band informed him that they needed a snare drummer, not a violinist. Even though he had never touched a drum and in fact had a phobia because of a childhood association with menacing street drums in Hungary, Max immediately informed Hobson that he was the best snare drummer in Chicago. The university usually supplied half of the candidate’s tuition, but he negotiated with Hobson to extract the full tuition without having to demonstrate his prowess for three months. He found a snare drum in a pawn shop and began playing it day and night at home. His neighbors were bothered by the noise, and he was summoned to court when a fish peddler complained. He found it ironic that he was hauled into court on the complaint of “a man whose cry of ‘Fre-shh Fee-sh’ and whose irritating insistent bell murdered the peace not of a block, not of a neighborhood, but of the whole town.”² Fortunately, he was let off with a mild reprimand.

He moved downstairs into their stifling hot cellar and continued to play all summer with the doors and windows shut. The audition in the fall was a resounding success; Professor Hobson was ecstatic and told President Harper that Max was wonderful and deserved full tuition. After eliminating the financial barrier, Max started medical school in 1900. Foundational studies were conducted at the University of Chicago and clinical ones at Rush Medical College and the new Cook County Hospital at Harrison and Wood Streets under the tutelage of luminaries such as John B. Murphy, Frank Billings, Arthur Dean Bevan, Bertram Welton Sippy, Ludvig Hektoen, Christian Fenger, Nicholas Senn, and others.

After graduating in 1904, he joined the staff of Cook County Hospital, and, as he wished to specialize in obstetrics, he became an intern at the Marcy Home on Maxwell Street, where he learned from Dr. Joseph B. DeLee. He also learned that to keep large cone-nose bugs from feasting on him while he slept, he had to generously slap on the carbolic acid solution supplied in a jug at the foot of his bed. Upon completing his internship, he had two offers to join established doctors, but he chose to set up his office on 12^th Street in Chicago amongst the poor immigrant population with whom he identified and could communicate in their native European languages.

Fanny (AKA Fim) Unger and Max had planned to make a life together in their hometown, but his leaving for America had put that on hold. In 1902, Fim moved to Chicago and lived with Max’s mother until they were married in April 1905. A year later, their son Philip (1906–1998) was born. Philip was interested in an acting career, but Max decided that Philip would be a surgeon, the sixth generation of doctors in the family. Philip, on the other hand, did not push his daughter Phyllis (1952–2000) into medicine, thereby ending the family tradition.³

By the time he had a family, Thorek had a substantial practice, but he felt the need to expand it further. To build social connections, he joined every lodge that would have him, gave up his horse-drawn carriage for a two-cylinder air-cooled Franklin motorcar, and bought appropriately fashionable accoutrements to go with it. He worked harder than ever until he fell ill. During the ensuing period of forced hospitalization and convalescence, he realized that he wanted to become a general surgeon. He had no money to “donate” to an institution or sociopolitical contacts to ease his path, so his two choices were to either obtain independent operating privileges at institutions around the city, with varying standards and regulations, or to become a surgeon’s assistant. The latter path did not guarantee advancement and could result in his being ousted if he disagreed with his boss.

While he was mulling over a course of action, he was introduced to Dr. Sol Greenspahn, a well-respected physician who practiced on the West Side. The two of them built the first iteration of the American Hospital in rented space at 2058 West Monroe Street in 1911. Patients were treated based upon need, regardless of their ability to pay. One such group was that of theater folk who traveled around the country. With the help of some prominent Chicagoans, Thorek developed an organization that raised money for their medical care, as Cook County Hospital only took patients who had lived in Chicago for at least eighteen months. Eventually, he was appointed surgeon of the Showmen’s League of America whereby he treated and became friends with such stars as Buffalo Bill Cody, Sarah Bernhardt, Harry Houdini, and many other prominent performers. They outgrew the first hospital almost immediately and chose to move to 850 West Irving Park Road in the rapidly developing northern part of Chicago. Harry Houdini dug the first shovelful of dirt for the American Hospital,³ which was later renamed Thorek Memorial Hospital in 1976. Thorek also cared for patients at Cook County Hospital and the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. He lectured at the Cook County Graduate School of Medicine, and his animal research was carried out there as well as on those animals housed on the roof of the American Hospital.

In the early part of the last century, there was great interest in implantation of animal testes for male “rejuvenation.” Thorek researched the subject and even described a technique for transplanting monkey testes into humans. He obtained informed consent from subjects, and the transplanted testes were removed after a defined period of time. He concluded that some degree of “reactivation” (not rejuvenation) was possible for a limited time, provided inherent activity was not completely absent at the time of transplantation.^4,5

He also developed plastic surgery techniques for women, including reduction mammoplasty with a free nipple graft, abdominoplasty, and reshaping of hyperadipose buttocks and hyperplasia of the adipose layer of the arms.⁶ Some twenty years later, he published the book Plastic Surgery of the Breast and the Abdominal Wall.⁷ Remarkably, these plastic surgical procedures are still in use.⁸

In the early 1900s, the worldwide immediate post-operative mortality after cholecystectomy in patients over forty years of age was 9.28%, and serious hospital complications occurred in 33%.⁹ Thorek initially had a 12% mortality rate in these patients.¹⁰ The cause was leak of bile and bleeding from the raw hepatic gallbladder bed. He solved the problem by leaving the back wall of the gallbladder attached to its bed and electrocoagulating (not electrocauterizing) it, thus converting it into an “inert tampon” sealing the raw surface. At the Cook County Graduate School of Medicine, registrar Mr. James Askin arranged for him to experiment on dogs, monkeys, and a baboon at night after work. When all the animals lived, he used the procedure on patients and presented his initial series of 75 patients followed by one of 471 cases without any deaths.¹¹

Thorek was clearly a very confident surgeon, but he believed surgeons should not operate on family members or on themselves. However, he broke both rules. The first time was when he was assisting a surgeon in Wisconsin in 1913, and that surgeon stuck the needle into Thorek’s right hand, which became infected and swollen. Various measures were tried, but he became septic, and his condition kept worsening. His physicians were contemplating amputating his hand when he recalled Nicholas Senn’s words “Ubi pus ibi evacuo” (where there is pus evacuate it), and decided to deal with the problem himself with able assistance from Fim. With his left hand, he injected cocaine (novocaine was not yet available) in the proposed lines of incision on the hand and another on the forearm. After incising the sites he inserted drains, dosed himself with a quarter grain of morphine, and went to sleep. He recovered in due course of time and retained use of his right hand.¹² The second time was when his son Philip was horsing around at Temple Shalom while in eighth grade and a door slammed shut on his hand. After exclaiming, “Some surgeon you’re gonna be with three fingers. A hell of a surgeon you’re gonna be,”³ he set to work controlling the bleeding, removing splinters of bone, and repairing the tendon before resuturing the skin.¹³ The finger healed, full function was retained, and Philip went on to become a Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a gifted lecturer. He produced numerous surgical films, wrote six surgical books, and a book on public speaking.^14-20 Furthermore, upon his father’s death in 1960, he took over administration of the hospital and expanded many services.

Thorek and the hospital survived the Wall Street crash of 1929, but this period heightened his desire to help young surgeons. With that in mind, he wrote a book entitled Surgical Errors and Safeguards, much against the advice of his friends who felt it would be suicidal for him and it would shake the public’s confidence in surgeons.²¹ This was followed by Modern Surgical Technic²²; the three-volume original edition was reduced to one volume for surgeons during World War II. He was also bothered that clinicians were losing their clinical acumen, so to encourage them to use all their faculties, he wrote The Human Face in Health and Disease.²³

In the 1920s, Thorek discovered photography and became very adept at it. He founded the Photographic Society of America and wrote two books on the subject.^24,25 His works are preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago,²⁶ the Brooklyn Museum,²⁷ and the Smithsonian.²⁸

Thorek was committed to sharing information. He railed against small men whose security was threatened by a newcomer with a new idea,²⁹ and he believed complications and errors must be shared, as was the case with the Terre Haute Medical Society, which met once a year to crown the “king of the suckers.”³⁰ He considered surgical societies to be “stupid” for arbitrarily limiting members so that “membership would be a coveted mark of distinction for a few fortunate men.”³¹ He never mentioned the American College of Surgeons and there is no record of him ever applying to join it.³² It is possible that he was kept out because of antisemitism,³³ interpersonal jealousies, or because of his experiments with testicular transplantation and with aesthetic surgery. Conversely, he may have chosen not to join the College if it was one of the unnamed organizations that he was criticizing. He convinced eminent surgeons in Europe and the US to work with him to develop the International College of Surgeons. “It was to be a true college whose prime function would be to teach younger men, and older men, and all who thirsted for knowledge of whatever age. Every man in it would be at one and the same time teacher and student.”³⁴

His legacies are the Thorek Memorial Hospital and The International College of Surgeons, which was incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland in 1935. They also lie in the Journal of the International College of Surgeons, later renamed International Surgery, which has been published since 1939 (to be distinguished from three newer journals with similar names), and the striking International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, which opened to the public on September 9, 1954.

References

1. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world. An Autobiography. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
2. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, pp 58-59.
3. Langer A (1991). My dad the doctor. Chicago Reader August 15, 1991. https://chicagoreader.com/news/my-dad-the-doctor/. [ER1] Accessed April 29, 2026.
4. Thorek M (1922). The present position of testicle transplantation in surgical practice: A preliminary report of a new method. Endocrinology 6(6):771-775.
5. Thorek M (1924). The human testis; its gross anatomy, histology, physiology, pathology, with particular reference to its endocrinology, aberrations of function and correlation to other endocrines, as well as the treatment of diseases of the testes and studies in testicular transplantation and the effects of the testicular secretions on the organism. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB. Chapter VI pp. 269-284, Chapter XIII pp. 327-334, Chapters XV to XX pp. 369-464.
6. Thorek M (1922). Possibilities in the reconstruction of the human form. NY Med J and Med Record. 116:572-575. A classic reprint. Aesth. Plast. Surg. 13(1):55-58, 1989. doi:10.1007/BF01570326
7. Thorek M (1942). Plastic surgery of the breast and abdominal wall. Springfield IL, Thomas CC.
8. Ruberg RL, Shah RR (1983). Max Thorek: A surgeon for all seasons. Clinics Plast Surg 10(4):611-618.
9. Thorek M (1934). Electrosurgical obliteration of the gallbladder. (seventy-five consecutive, unselected, cases without mortality. JAMA 103(3):169-174. doi:10.1001/jama.1934.02750290019006.
10. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, p 333.
11. Thorek M (1939). Electrosurgical obliteration of the gall bladder without drainage: A report of 471 cases. Transactions of the International College of Surgeons October 1938, I:2:173. Electromedical Notes and Abstracts. General Electric X-ray Corporation.
12. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, pp. 148-151.
13. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, pp. 145-146.
14. Thorek P (1951). Anatomy in surgery. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
15. Thorek P (1952). Diseases of the oesophagus. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
16. Thorek P (1956). Surgical Diagnosis. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
17. Thorek P. (1956). Surgical Diagnosis graphically illustrated. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
18. Thorek P, Linden CT (1970). Atlas of surgical techniques. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
19. Thorek P (1974). Illustrated preoperative and postoperative care. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
20. Thorek P (1974). Open your mouth but don’t say “ah”: Rx for public speaking. Tokyo, Japan Igaku-Shoin Medical Publishers.
21. Thorek M (1932). Surgical errors and safeguards. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
22. Thorek M (1938). Modern surgical technic. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
23. Thorek M (1946). The face in health and disease. Philadelphia PA, Davis FA co.
24. Thorek M (1937). Creative camera art. Canton OH, Fomo Publishing.
25. Thorek M (1947). Camera art as a means of self-expression. Philadelphia PA, Lippincott JB.
26. Thorek M. The Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artists/32929/dr-max-thorek. Accessed May 17, 2026.
27. Thorek M. Time Marches On. Brooklyn Museum. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/54479. Accessed May 22, 2026.
28. Dr. Max Thobek (sic) physician was 79; Founder of the International College of Surgeons and American hospital dies. January 27, 1960. New York Times Archives. Accessed May 18, 2026.
29. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, p. 156.
30. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, p. 159.
31. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, p. 249.
32. Beesley M. Archivist, American College of Surgeons, personal communication, April 27, 2026.
33. Bachrach J. Dr. Max Thorek: A Remarkable Chicagoan. Julia Bachrach Consulting, https://www.jbachrach.com/blog/2020/1/30/dr-max-thorek-a-remarkable-chicagoan Accessed April 28, 2026.
34. Thorek M (1943). A surgeon’s world, p, 326.