Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits (, ; – March 1932), also known by her pen name Sergei Gedroits, was a Russian doctor of medicine and author. She was the first woman military surgeon in Russia, the first woman professor of surgery, and the first woman to serve as a physician to the Russian imperial court.
Following her involvement in a student movement, Gedroits was unable to complete her studies in Russia, and despite being openly lesbian, entered into a marriage of convenience, which allowed her to obtain a passport in another name and leave the country. In Switzerland, she enrolled in the medical courses of César Roux and graduated in 1898, working as Roux's assistant, but returned to Russia because of illnesses in her family.
As a young physician, Gedroits was concerned at the low standards of hygiene, nutrition and sanitation, and made recommendations to improve conditions. In the Russo-Japanese War, she performed abdominal surgeries against established policy, leading to a change in the way battlefield medicine was performed. Much decorated for her war service, she served as physician to the royal court until the outbreak of World War I, training the Tsarina Alexandra and her daughters as nurses.
At the beginning of the Revolution, Gedroits returned to the battle front. Wounded, she was evacuated to Kiev, where she resumed her work as a physician and academic. In 1921, she was hired to teach pediatric surgery at the Kiev Medical Institute and within two years was appointed a professor of medicine. Soviet purges at that time removed her from office in 1930 and denied her a pension. Gedroits turned her attention to writing autobiographical novels until her death from uterine cancer in 1932.
Early life Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was born on 7 April 1870 O.S. in , (now in the Bryansk Oblast), in the Oryol Governorate of the Russian Empire. Her parents were Daria Konstantinovna Mikhau () and Prince Ignatiy Ignatievich Gedroits (). Her mother's family were Russified Germans and her maternal grandfather served as a captain in the military. Her father's family belonged to a Lithuanian princely clan which shared its origins with the more famous Radziwiłł family. After having taken part in the Polish uprising of 1863, Ignatiy Gedroits fled to Russia when Lithuanian liberties were suspended by the autocracy. Establishing a tobacco plantation in the Non-Black Earth Region, he was later elected head of the Council of Magistrates in the Bryansk District, and in 1878 received confirmation of the title of prince for himself and his heirs.
Gedroits was the middle child among five living siblings, Maria (1861), Ignatius (1864), Nadezhda (1876), and Alexandra (1878). Another brother, Sergei, of whom she was particularly fond, died young and would later inspire her literary pseudonym. Following Sergei's death, she developed an interest in medicine, vowing to become a doctor so that she could help to prevent suffering. The children, like their mother, were raised as Orthodox, but their father remained Catholic. They grew up on the family estate which was destroyed by fire in 1877, forcing them to move to a boarding house where their grandmother Natalia Mikhau taught the children reading, French, music, and dancing. The lively Vera Gedroits became the children's ringleader, often dressing in boys' clothes for convenience.
Gedroits attended at the Bryansk women's gymnasium under Vasily Rozanov for a period but was expelled for mischief aimed at her teachers. Her father arranged with his industrialist friend Sergei Maltsov for her to be introduced to medicine as a factory assistant. Under Maltsov's influence, she was finally readmitted to the gymnasium, matriculating with honors in 1885. She continued her education in St. Petersburg, attending the medical courses of the anatomy professor Peter Lesgaft. While there, Gedroits became involved in the revolutionary youth movement, participating in the populist circle of Victor Alexandrovich Veynshtok. Along with other members of the group, she was arrested in 1892. The police returned her to Slobodishche.
Years in Switzerland
Keen to continue her studies, but unable to do so in Russia, Gedroits arranged a marriage of convenience with a friend from St. Petersburg, Nikolai Belozerov. Although Gedroits was openly lesbian, she and Belozerov actively corresponded, met frequently and traveled together. According to biographer Tatiana Khokhlova, the couple had real affection for each other. They took measures to hide their union, which occurred on 5 September 1894, by living separately. Belozerov's military career took him to Irkutsk in Siberia, while Gedroits used her new name to obtain a passport and slip into Switzerland. She entered the University of Lausanne, where she trained to be a surgeon in the clinic of professor César Roux, graduating in 1898. Earning almost perfect marks, she received her diploma as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery.
Upon receipt of her diploma, Gedroits first worked as an intern in a therapy clinic, but was soon posted as a junior assistant to Roux. Carrying out scientific studies, she became Roux's senior assistant and he subsequently offered her the post of Privatdozent. Immersing herself in her work, Gedroits wrote that she was "drowning in surgery" in an attempt to comprehend all the subtleties of the procedures and how best to help her patients. She began an ardent lesbian affair, but was forced to return to Russia when she received a pleading letter from her father. He advised that her sister Alexandra had died from tuberculosis and her mother was suffering from nervous exhaustion. He urged her to return and assist him, promising to help her secure work in a new 10-bed factory hospital which was being built. Believing she had a responsibility to her family, she reluctantly returned to Slobodishche in 1900.
Return to Russia On her return, Gedroits was immediately hired at the Maltsov Cement Factory in the Zhizdrinsky District of the Kaluga Oblast as the plant's physician. Though primarily responsible for the medical needs of the workers and their families, she tended to local villagers as well, as she was the only doctor in the district. By 1901, Gedroits had performed 248 operations with minimal fatalities, including amputations, herniation repair, and setting broken bones, many caused by the difficult working conditions of the laborers. Inadequate safety practices by the factory meant that there was a high risk of industrial accidents and the cement dust caused many eye problems. Poor living conditions with little sanitation, inadequate knowledge of hygiene and nutrition, and no midwifery care contributed to other serious health issues, such as dysentery. Concerned about the overall health of the workers, Gedroits made a list of recommendations for factory administrators, including cleaning the wells, providing washing tubs, and serving hot meals.
In addition to her hospital work, Gedroits published scientific articles in Russian medical journals, which began to be noticed and reprinted in German and French. Invited to participate in the Third Congress of Surgeons in 1902, she presented a report on a surgery performed in 1901 on a male patient suffering from a deformation of the hip joints, which was so severe he could not stand or sit comfortably. Following a complex surgery, within four months the patient was able to walk without crutches. Her detailed report showed a thorough knowledge of surgical work of predecessors in the field, including John Rhea Barton, F. J. Gant, Bernhard von Langenbeck, Jules Germain François Maisonneuve, and Richard von Volkmann.
Wanting to leave the provincial life because of the difficult working conditions, the poverty of the workers, and family issues, Gedroits was required to attain Russian credentials to practice medicine elsewhere in Russia. In spite of her Swiss degree, she had to obtain certifications to meet the requirements of the University of Moscow. In 1902, she asked permission to test for the Latin requirement at the Oryol Gubernatorial Gymnasium. Having been under the watch of the police since her arrest in 1892, she was required to get a statement of character before the examination was allowed. After successfully passing her exams, Gedroits earned the title of female doctor and on 21 February 1903, received her diploma, allowing her to practice medicine throughout the country. The continuing ill-health of her parents, her long working hours, and the collapse of her relationship with her lover from Switzerland, led to a suicide attempt in 1903.
Russo-Japanese War
In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Gedroits volunteered to go to the front with the Red Cross. In the first month of the war, she treated 1,255 patients, including over 100 patients with head wounds and 61 patients with abdominal wounds. Initially treatment was provided in tents covered in an insulating layer of clay, but by January 1905, Gedroits was accompanying the horse-drawn ambulances which brought the wounded to the hospital to perform triage, before entering the operating theater. She was appointed chief surgeon of the hospital train, which consisted of an operating car and five patient cars. The operating car was a specially equipped surgical unit, supplied by the Russian nobility to allow care to the wounded to be performed on the front lines. This put the medical personnel at grave risk, as unless there were wounded personnel in ambulances, tents or surgical trains, their neutrality was not recognized.
Though many Russian, as well as French and British, military surgeons had discarded the idea of treating abdominal wounds, Gedroits recognized that early intervention was key. Standard treatment at the time required the patient to be placed in a semi-reclining position so that the wound could drain. In previous eras, without anesthesia, penetrating abdominal wounds were considered inoperable. Gedroits was the first to perform laparotomies on military patients, having extensive experience in abdominal surgery for hernias, the most frequent surgery she performed in the cement factory hospital. Her procedure required that the patient undergo the operation within three hours of receiving a wound. Her success rate was high, leading to recommendations being made in international medical journals to adopt mobile surgical units which allowed for rapid treatment. The Russian Army and the Russian Society of Military Doctors officially adopted Gedroits' operative procedures.
Designed to treat 2,000 people, the nobles' hospital quickly exceeded its capacity and because it was on the front lines, mortality was high. With the Russian defeat, Gedroits helped organize the hospital evacuation from near the Fushun Mining region, which was performed under gunfire because the Russian troops refused to retreat until the patients were moved. Gedroits was credited with saving the life of Vasily Gurko, as well as that of a Japanese prince. In 1905, she returned to the Maltsov Factory Hospital as chief surgeon and was appointed chief doctor of the Lyudinovskaya Hospital. Compiling a 57-page report on her work during the war, which included illustrations, she presented her results on 27 July 1905 to the Society of Military Doctors. She was awarded the gold medal of diligence from the Order of Saint Anna by the army commander for her actions during the Battle of Mukden, the Ribbon of Saint George with the silver medal "For Bravery" (ru) by General N. Plinevich for her treatment of the wounded, the three highest distinctions from the Russian Red Cross, and recognition by the Imperial family in the form of the silver neck medal of the Order of Saint Vladimir.
Provincial work