Was Dr. O’Reilly a Run of the Mill Doctor or an Expert Surgeon?

Dr. Frederick D. Newbarr, the medical examiner in the case of Elizabeth Short, stated that the dissection of Miss Short’s body was a “fine piece of surgery.” At the Grand Jury investigation, Detective Harry Hanson believed that the killer was a “medical man” and “a very fine surgeon” at that. These statements are why many well-known suspects are, or were said to be, surgeons and why several surgeons are on Lt. Jemison’s suspect list.

Some have said that Dr. Patrick O’Reilly was just a general practitioner. Others have said he was a surgeon, but not one of note. Let us examine the evidence concerning Dr. O’Reilly’s profession and abilities.

Based on Dr. O’Reilly’s letters home while overseas during WWI, Patrick had long wanted to be a surgeon. And after the war, he realized that dream, graduating from the Orthopedic College in Southern California as an Orthopedic surgeon. (Orthopedic surgeons are those “who specialize in the musculoskeletal system – the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles.”) He quickly found employment at a Los Angeles hospital, and before long, Dr. O’Reilly was head of his own Emergency Hospital in Glendale.

Time and time again, one will find Dr. O’Reilly in Los Angeles newspapers for being involved with the medical treatment of famous boxers, downed pilots, Hollywood stars, and even shot-up bank robbers. Pulling a bullet out of a gangster’s arm doesn’t precisely make O’Reilly a Medical Rockstar. But an event in 1934, still at the young age of 34, does showcase his medical prowess.

“One of the most amazing operations ever performed,” read the newspaper. Dr. Patrick O’Reilly had “literally created a new muscular system” along the body of a famous actress, Lucille La Verne. Close to death, the operation led by Dr. O’Reilly saved her life.

The procedure was a complex muscle reconstruction that required medical knowledge of the muscles, bones, organs, tendons, etc., in addition to needing the skill to pull it off successfully. Lucille La Verne’s surgery was a success and she went on to live 11 more years before succumbing to an unrelated ailment. La Verne is best known for the voice of the Evil Queen, and her alter ego the Witch, from Disney’s 1937 Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Those voiceovers would never have happened if it wasn’t for Dr. O’Reilly’s expertise three years prior.

Evidence for Dr. O’Reilly’s high standing as an expert surgeon goes further. Not only was he the chief surgeon at the Glendale Emergency Hospital, later called the P. S. O’Reilly Emergency Hospital, but he was also selected as a speaker at Osteopathic conventions.

The evidence speaks for itself. Patrick O’Reilly was not just a doctor but a skilled surgeon and an expert in his field, someone who was well acquainted with the skin, muscles, tendons, bones, and organs throughout the human body.

I would also like to note that while the infamous suspect George Hodel was a doctor, he was not a surgeon despite it often being said that he was. Dr. Hodel was a venereal disease physician and was head of San Fransisco’s county Social Hygiene Bureau.