There was, possibly, an actual surgery with a 300 percent mortality rate. The surgeon, Dr. Liston, is mentioned later in the episode in regards to ether (the Yankee Dodge of the title). Richard Gordon, in his 1893 book, said: "Amputated the leg in under 2-and-a-half minutes (the patient died afterwards in the ward from hospital gangrene; they usually did in those pre-Listerian days). He amputated in addition the fingers of his young assistant (who died afterwards in the ward from hospital gangrene). He also slashed through the coat tails of a distinguished surgical spectator, who was so terrified that the knife had pierced his vitals he fainted from fright (and was later discovered to have died from shock)." It has been suggested the story is apocryphal.
