Henri Albert Hartmann (16 June 1860 – 1 January 1952) was a French surgeon. He wrote numerous papers on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from war injuries to shoulder dislocations to gastrointestinal cancer. Hartmann is best known for Hartmann's operation, a two-stage colectomy he devised for colon cancer and diverticulitis.
Hartmann Day is the 16 June, each year. "Hartmann Day" celebrates Henri Albert Charles Antoine Hartmann's (born 16 June 1860) invention of the surgical operation that is now known as the "Hartmann Procedure" that has saved many lives. It also celebrates the work of those who have performed the operation, and of those who have supported patients about to have, having, or have had the operation.
This celebration was instituted in 2021, marking one hundred years since the publication of the operation.
In June 2022 a grateful patient sent a Hartmann Day card to the group of Stoma Nurses who had helped the patient.
The card was produced using a web-based facility that, for a fee, will print a custom greetings card and send it to a recipient.
The picture on the front of the card was the picture from this Wikipedia page that had been electronically placed upon a blank electronic canvas of the correct size for the printing process. The greeting inside was the description of Hartmann Day as posted on this Wikipedia page on 16 June 2021.
A tradition was started such that a Hartmann Day card does not include the name of the sender on the card, yet the name of the sender is either printed on the envelope or is written on the envelope before the card is inserted into the envelope. That way the recipient or recipients will know who sent the card yet can display the card without compromising medical confidentiality.
The sender also sent a second card to the sender, which the sender framed. Thus two cards were printed.