 While in the Navy he researched on ruptured appendixes and discovered that they were not as life-threatening as once believed.He therefore concluded that risky emergency appendectomies on board submarines may harm the patient more than help, and that the safer option was to employ penicillin until the patient could be evacuated to a superior hospital facility.He also developed a procedure for pilonidal cysts, draining them with a catheter instead of the standard surgical excision.