MUNICH, GERMANY – Agatha Reverse is a well-known surgeon from Germany around 1870, who removed numerous gallbladders. To help her with surgical exposure she decided to place the patient at a 30-degree angle with the head higher than the feet.
Recently found documentation now shows many surgeons writing about this new position and how this positioning won over many surgeons nationwide including a certain Dr. Freidrich Trendelenburg. Dr. Trendelenburg was so impressed he started to learn many “tips and tricks” from his new mentor.
Soon the 1870s version of Grey’s Anatomy occurred. One day after work he caught her changing into her bustle in the old bloodletting room, and they couldn’t restrain themselves. Eventually the two were married. Dr. Reverse, being now a famous surgeon, hyphenated her name to Reverse-Trendelenburg.
Many years passed when her husband, Dr. Freidrich Trendelenburg, decided there should be a name for turning the bed in the opposite direction with the head lower than the feet, now known as Trendelenburg position.
Dr. Chebjanaoknowski tried to promote his idea of tilting the table to the left or right on the horizontal but surprisingly his name never caught on.
