Daily AncestorSurgical shock
Surgical shock meant collapse and death during or soon after an operation; the Census Bureau asked doctors to name the disease that needed the operation.
Webster's 1913 defines shock in medicine as a sudden depression of the vital forces after severe injury or the like. Surgical shock is that collapse following an operation.
The 1911 Census Bureau manual lists operation, surgical operation and surgical shock as undesirable and asks for the disease or injury that made the operation necessary, so look for it as contributory cause.
As seen in a recordCause of death line, state death certificate, 1910s to 1930s
Cause: Surgical shock. Operation for strangulated hernia.
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Surgical shock." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/surgical-shock. Last checked 2026-10-12.