Elizabeth Fleischman-Aschheim (née Fleischman 5 March 1867 – August 3 1905) was an American radiographer who is considered an X-ray pioneer. Fleischman was the first woman to die as a result of X-ray radiation exposure.
Elizabeth Fleischman was born in El Dorado County, California (possibly in Placerville), on March 5, 1867, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Austria.[1] [2] Her mother, Katherine Lezansky was born in Prague and had several family members who were physicians in what is now the Czech Republic. Her father, Jacob Fleischman, was a baker.[3] Elizabeth was one of five children.[1]
By 1876 the family had moved to San Francisco where Elizabeth's father, worked first as a baker and later became a merchant who sold various sundries and cigars. Elizabeth Fleischman attended the Girls' High School and dropped out in her senior year in 1882 to help support her family.[1] She then took courses in bookkeeping and office management, and for a time she worked as a bookkeeper at Friedlander & Mitau, a San Francisco underwear manufacturer.[4] [5]
Upon the death of her mother, Fleischman moved in with her sister Estelle, who was married to English physician and surgeon Michael Joseph Henry Woolf.[6] [1] Fleischman worked in the office of Woolf's medical practice as a bookkeeper, where he shared and supported her curiosity in the new medical technology of X-rays.
In 1896, Fleischman read of Wilhelm Röntgen's breakthrough with x-rays in Vienna, Austria: "A new photographic discovery" which sparked her interest in radiography.[7] [8] In August 1896, she attended a public lecture by and presentation on X-ray apparatus by Albert Van der Naillen in San Francisco.[9] Later that year, she enrolled in the Van der Naillen School of Engineering and took a course of study in electrical science, in part influenced by Van der Naillen's lecture and encouragement of her physician brother-in-law.
Upon completion of the course of study, she borrowed funds from her father to purchase X-ray apparatus and a fluoroscope.[10] [11] Fleischman quickly exhibited a keen interest and became proficient with the various apparatus that were necessary to produce the X-rays.
By 1897, one year after the discovery of X-rays by Röntgen, she had established an X-ray laboratory on Sutter Street in San Francisco.[12] There she examined patients on behalf of local physicians. This work required expertise in both anatomy and photography in order to produce clear images.[12]
In 1898, American newspapers reported the results of her work bombarding commercially traded foods with x-rays in order to detect the presence or absence of "adulteration" by impurities.[13] She also began to take X-ray images of animals and common objects, such as the interior of a shoe.[14] In December 1898, she began to provide services as a radiographer to the United States Army, who had been sending wounded soldiers from the Spanish-American War's Pacific theater back to the United States through San Francisco.[14]
On August 20, 1899, she took one of her most famous radiographs, an image showing a Mauser 7 mm bullet lodged in the brain of John Gretzer Jr., in the region of the left occipital lobe.[12] [15] Private Gretzer, of the 1st Nebraska Volunteers, wounded at Mariboa, Philippines on 27 March 1899 during the Spanish–American War. The private later returned to duty as a mail clerk.[16] Accounts of the case were reported in the 1902 edition of The International Text-Book of Surgery and in newspapers.[17] Another case of a bullet lodged in a soldier's skull, X-rayed by Fleischman was also reported in newspapers in 1899.[18]
She received praise for her work during the Spanish-American War from the Surgeon General of the Army George Miller Sternberg.[19] Several of her radiographs were also used by William C. Borden to illustrate his book on the medical use of X-rays in the Spanish-American War.In March 1900, Fleischman became an inaugural member of the Roentgen Society of the United States, which later became the American Roentgen Ray Society.[20] She was one of the few members of the society who were not physicians.[12] In that same year, the American X-ray Journal described the work and accomplishments:
At the time Fleischman worked as a radiographer, not only were x-ray tubes unshielded, it was common for operators to place their own hands in front of their fluoroscope to check exposures.[1] In addition, Fleischman would often expose herself to X-rays to show patients that the procedure was painless.[12]
By 1903, the cumulative effects of seven years of unprotected X-ray exposures and twelve-hour workdays began to appear as X-ray dermatitis on her hands.[21] She attributed this irritation to the chemicals used in developing photographic plates. In early 1904, the dermatitis progressed to the point where she sought medical attention. Her doctors found:She continued to work despite this injury.[20] In 1904, she was responsible for introducing protective measures for the operators of x-ray machines. She commented on the merits of double-plate glass screens, and metals such as lead, aluminium, iron and copper to "resist" x-rays.[22]
By late 1904, the dermatitis progressed to cancer. Her doctors attempted to excise a tumor on her right hand, but this failed to halt the progression of the carcinoma. In January 1905 her entire right arm and scapula with the clavicle were amputated. The 4 March 1905 edition of the journal Electrical World and Engineer published the details regarding the amputation of Fleishman's right arm and her withdrawal from the field of radiography and stated:[23] Four months later the cancer recurred and metastases were found in her pulmonary pleurae and lungs. Elizabeth Fleischman died on August 3, 1905, at 38 years old.[24] The notice of her death published in the San Francisco Examiner [25] and the San Francisco Chronicle which noted:[26] Her gravestone states simply: "I think I did some good in this world."[14]
Fleischman was the second person and first woman to die as result of X-ray exposure. The previous year, Clarence Dally, an American glassblower and assistant to Thomas Edison in his work on X-rays, died under similar circumstances to Fleischman.[27]
In 1900, at age 32, Fleischman married Israel Julius Aschheim.[28] She hyphenated her last name to Fleischmann-Aschheim.[1] Aschheim was born in Prussia and had immigrated to California by 1868. He was the grand secretary of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith (District No. 4, Pacific Coast), a Jewish service organization, and served as the assistant secretary to the California Board of Education.[6]