Doctor Willard BlissMD was an American physician and expert in ballistic trauma, who treated President James A. Garfield after his wounding from a gunshot in July 1881 until his death two and a half months later.
Early life and career
Bliss was born in Brutus, New York, to Obediah Bliss and Marilla Pool. Bliss's first and middle names were inspired by Dr Samuel Willard, a surgeon from New England. During his youth, the Bliss family lived in Savoy, Massachusetts. Bliss had one brother, Zenas. Bliss treated Zachary Taylor for malaria at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, in 1844. Bliss studied at Cleveland Medical College, submitting his thesis on Pseudarthrosis or False-Joint in 1849. During the American Civil War, Bliss was a surgeon with the Third Michigan Infantry. Bliss later became superintendent at Washington D.C.'s Armory Square Hospital; he continued to practice in the city after the war had ended. Bliss was expelled from the District of Columbia Medical Society for his support of homeopathy and his opposition to the society's exclusion of black members. After having his career threatened for embracing the novel field of homeopathy, Bliss was hesitant to accept another new movement in medicine, the antiseptic methods proposed by Joseph Lister. Bliss was mentioned in correspondence by Walt Whitman, who claimed that Bliss answered the House of Representatives' proposal for his pension in 1887 by saying, "I am of opinion that no one person who assisted in the hospitals during the war accomplished so much good to the soldiers and for the Government as Mr. Whitman".
On July 2, 1881, Bliss was summoned by Robert Todd Lincoln after James A. Garfield had been shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. Bliss examined Garfield's bullet wounds with his fingers and metal probes, concluding the bullet was in the President's liver. Bliss became Garfield's self-appointed doctor after their return to the White House. As trained nurses were uncommon at this time, Bliss used Cabinet members' wives as help, even though they had no knowledge of nurses' duties. Bliss also invited Alexander Graham Bell to test his metal detector on the President, hoping that it would locate the bullet. The device's signal was thought to be distorted by the metal bed springs. Later the detector was proved to work perfectly and would have found the bullet had Bliss allowed Bell to use the device on Garfield's left side as well his right side. After Garfield's death, Bliss submitted a claim for $25,000 for his services to the President. He was offered $6,500 instead, an offer that he refused. Some believe that Bliss bullied and practiced malpractice, even for his day.
Personal life
Bliss married Sophia Prentiss in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on May 23, 1849. They had four children: Elliss Baker, a dentist; Clara Bliss Hinds, a medical practitioner; Willie Prentiss and Eugenie Prentiss. The family lived in a house in Washington D.C. built by John Quincy Adams. Sophia died in January 1888 in Washington D.C.; Bliss died in the same city on February 21, 1889. His death was attributed to heart failure or apoplexy.
