American Decades

Important Events in Medicine and Health, 1960–1969

The percentage of babies delivered by cesarean section doubles in twenty years to between 5 and 6 percent.
U.S. Department of Agriculture poultry scientist B.R. Burmeister demonstrates that a virus causes a type of cancer in chickens. His work implies that viruses may likewise cause cancer in humans.
Laborer Billy Smith has a severed leg reimplanted, but with only temporary success.
Debate continues over the effectiveness of inactive-versus active-virus polio vaccines.
On January 1, physicians visit only 10 percent of patients in their homes. The other 90 percent come to the physician's office for treatment.
On January 1, abortion is illegal in all 50 states, though 45 permit abortion when pregnancy endangers the mother's life.
In February, Dr. Frank L. Horsfall Jr. becomes director of the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
In...

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