Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with February 11.

Events

1958 – The BBC broadcast the first episode of Your Life in Their Hands, a pioneering series presented by physician Charles Fletcher that televised live operations to demystify modern hospital care. The pushback was immediate and very… mid-century British. Critics (including the BMJ at the time) argued it was demeaning for clinicians to appear as performers for the public, and worried the “dramatising” of disease would heighten health anxiety, feeding hypochondria and neurosis rather than education.

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Births

1801 – Vincenz Alexander Bohdalek (1801–1883), Czech anatomist and pathologist. Described Bochdalek foramen (lumbocostal triangle, foramen Bochdaleki) (1848). Bochdalek hernia (1848) and Bochdalek’s flower basket (Blumenkörbchen Bochdaleks)

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Deaths

1942 – Antoine Bernard-Jean Marfan (1858-1942), French pediatrician; described Marfan syndrome (1896), Marfan symptom (1896), Marfan-Madelung syndrome, and Dennie-Marfan syndrome

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Further reading

• Disease education by the B.B.C. Br Med J. 1958 Feb 15;1(5067):388-9.
• Essex-Lopresti M. Essay: Your Life in Their Hands. Lancet 2006; (368)S24-S25
• Your Life in Their Hands (TV Series 1958). IMDb