restore his own reputation, after their return to the White House. He ordered to have the president isolated, confining him to a room in the White House. Garfield's personal physician Jedediah Hyde Baxter arrived at the White House the next day to see Garfield; after a heated exchange, Bliss ousted Baxter, and wrote a letter to other doctors requesting them not to see Garfield. As trained nurses were uncommon at this time, Bliss used Cabinet members' wives as help, even though they had no knowledge of nurses' duties. Two days following the shooting, Bliss summoned two surgeons, David Hayes Agnew and Frank Hastings Hamilton, to help. Throughout the next weeks, Bliss repeatedly probed Garfield's wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments. As Garfield's condition grew increasingly worse and he became unable to keep down his food, Bliss began rectally feeding him. 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 believed even at the time that Bliss was guilty of malpractice. Personal life Bliss married Sophia Prentiss (1825–1888) in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on May 23, 1849. They had four children: Elliss Baker (born April 25, 1850), a dentist; Clara Bliss Hinds, a medical practitioner; Willie Prentiss (born February 1854, died August 17, 1856 "by an accident") and Eugenie Prentiss (born August 10, 1855). 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. Publications Notes and references Further reading 1825 births 1889 deaths Physicians from New York (state) People from Brutus, New York People of Michigan in the American Civil War Assassination of James A. Garfield 19th-century American physicians Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War Medical malpractice