Frank G. Slaughter, M.D., FACS: Medical Novelist and Surgeon Writer.

"The curiosity of the public about things medical is probably greater than on any other single subject-except perhaps sex." This quote by Frank Gill Slaughter, M.D., is indicative of the foresight, intuitiveness, and intelligence of one of the medical profession's most prolific and successful surgeon writers. His primary genre was historical fiction, and he incorporated medical and surgical history into nearly all of his writings with a "surgeon-hero" consistently the lead character. Slaughter published 65 books between 1941 and 1987 and sold 75 million copies in 23 languages. Slaughter received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1930 and completed general surgery training at Jefferson Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1934. He moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1934, where he would remain for the rest of his life, excepting military service in World War II. He became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1938 and was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1940. Slaughter died in 2001 at the age of 93. This contribution examines the keen intellect and prolific authorship of this important and significant surgeon writer and medical novelist.