Craniotomies (medical abortions)

“Murphy noted that younger physicians readily endorsed abdominal surgery [cesareans], but senior practitioners continued to perform craniotomies because of their reluctance to visit an operating theater for instruction in the new techniques. As in America, outmoded procedures had an afterlife due to the continued practice of unskilled physicians in an era that had no established procedures or standards for continuing education” (Ryan, 490). . . . by 1940, the diffusion of surgical knowledge made possible organized medical education and board certification rendered craniotomy virtually obsolete” (493).