these patients. In November 1942 the Cocoanut Grove fire occurred, with nearly 200 patients from the fire admitted to Massachusetts General. This event led to advances in burns care due to the research carried out in the months after the fire, led by Churchill and Cope with Benjamin Castleman, Tracy B. Mallory and Richard Schatzki. This work included the nature of pulmonary damage caused by smoke inhalation, and the "soft" technique of surface burn management, using boric petroleum-impregnated gauze dressings to allow healing instead of tanning with tannic acid. This work was published in 1943. Work carried out by Cope and Francis Moore led to methods of estimating fluid replacement needs in burns patients. This research into burns management, which continued with the support of the United States Army and Navy, led to the establishment of the Shriner's Burns Institute at Massachusetts General. Treatment of cancer In 1962 Cope was elected President of the American Surgical Association. He turned his attention to the surgical treatment of cancer, particularly breast cancer. He warned against reliance on radical surgery, and advocated less invasive surgery and more use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He also drew attention to the consideration of psychological and emotional aspects of disease in medical education. He promoted these ideas widely, publishing Man, Mind & Medicine - The Doctor's Education in 1968, and The Breast: Its Problems, Benign and Malignant: And How to Deal With Them in 1977. Cope became Emeritus Professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1969. He died on 30 April 1994 at his son's home in Woodsville, New Hampshire, the day after his wife of 62 years. Legacy Parathyroidectomy is now a part of the standard management of cases of primary hyperparathyroidism. The management of burns, including fluid replacement, surface management and respiratory management, is based on the work carried out by Cope and his colleagues at Massachusetts General. Cancer treatment now is focused on limited surgery and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy rather than radical surgery, and medical education now takes psychosocial considerations into account. References External links Oliver Cope papers, 1891-1992 (inclusive), 1930-1991 (bulk). H MS c177. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass. 1902 births 1994 deaths American surgeons Harvard Medical School alumni 20th-century American physicians 20th-century surgeons