The history of pediatric surgery in Germany

Pediatric surgery as defined today is a very young specialty, and it was not until the middle of our century that pediatric units were established at surgical clinics in Germany. Pediatric surgery in Germany developed first in children's hospitals. The author distinguishes four stages: Stage 1: The pediatrician as operating surgeon; Stage 2: The surgeon as consultant; Stage 3: Pediatric surgical hospitals at children's hospitals; Stage 4: Pediatric surgery as an independent discipline in its own right. This chapter then relates the history of the German Society of Pediatric Surgery and the coming of age of pediatric surgery as a completely independent discipline, in which there are now 55 pediatric surgical units in the Federal Republic of Germany. The publications, textbooks, and journals listed at the end of this chapter show the advance of this discipline.