Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with February 28.

Events

1983 – The series finale of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” aired on CBS, ending the show’s original 11 season run. The 2½-hour finale drew an estimated 105–106 million U.S. viewers, remaining the most-watched scripted television episode in American history.

1998 – The Lancet published “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children” by former British surgeon Andrew Jeremy Wakefield et al. The paper speculated on a possible association between MMR vaccination and autism-spectrum disorders. These claims were later shown to be unsupported and ethically/clinically compromised

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Births

1896 – Philip Showalter Hench; Nobel laureate for his work on cortisone and its treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

1899 – Helene Ollendorff Curth (1899-1982), German-American dermatologist; described Ollendorff probe sign (1923), Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome (1928), Curth-Macklin syndrome (1954), Curth’s modified profile sign (1961), and Curth’s criteria for the diagnosis of cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes (1976)

1911 – Denis Parsons Burkitt (1911-1993), Irish surgeon; described Burkitt Lymphoma (1958)

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Deaths

1912 – Alessandro Codivilla (1861-1912), Italian surgeon; original description of the first pancreatic head resection Whipple procedure (1898)

1920 – Camillo Bozzolo (1845-1920), Italian physician; described Bozzolo sign of aortic regurgitation (1887), and Kahler-Bozzolo disease (1897) [multiple myeloma]

1970 – Richard F. Ashman (1890-1970), American physiologist; described Ashman phenomenon (1947)

2011 – Charles Sumner Neer II (1917-2011), American Orthopedic Surgeon; described Neer classification of proximal humeral fractures and invented the Neer prosthesis

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Further reading

• Goodbye, Farewell and Amen. IMDb
• Wakefield, AJ et al. RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 1998; 351(9103): 637-641