Ralph Hayward Pomeroy was an American gynecologist who became posthumously famous for the female sterilization procedure that he had developed and now carries his name as the Pomeroy tubal ligation

Tubal ligation

Tubal ligation or tubectomy is a surgical procedure for sterilization in which a woman's fallopian tubes are clamped and blocked, or severed and sealed, either method of which prevents eggs from reaching the uterus for fertilization...

.

Pomeroy went to Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

, Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

 and graduated from the Long Island College Hospital

Long Island College Hospital

Long Island College Hospital is a teaching hospital situated at Hicks and Amity Streets in Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, New York.Founded in 1858, the hospital has 506 beds. In 1860 it introduced the practice of bedside teaching and it later became the first U.S. hospital to use stethoscopes...

 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. He became an associate professor at the same institution in 1912, and was one of the founders of the Williamsburg Hospital, Brooklyn. He was elected President of the Kings County Medical Society in 1916. Pomeroy developed his technique of tubal ligation but never reported or published it. His associates, Bishop and Nelms, presented the procedure and results four years after his death at a medical meeting in 1929 and published it the following year. Its simplicity and effectiveness made the Pomeroy procedure a common choice for female sterilization that is still being used today.

The “Pomeroy” procedure is performed on each fallopian tube where a knuckle is created, tied with catgut

Catgut

Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines. Usually sheep or goat intestines are used, but it is occasionally made from the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or donkeys.-Etymology:...

, and the tube at the apex of the knuckle is severed.