The Surgery

Originally Aired: February 23, 1958 In Gunsmoke #307, "The Surgery," Marshal Matt Dillon faces a dangerous standoff when Doc Adams determines that Lucy Middleton needs a risky surgical operation to survive. Lucy's husband Aaron has been treating her illness with strong herbal remedies, but Doc insists the only way to save her life is through surgery—a procedure he's never performed before but has studied. When Aaron refuses permission and threatens to force his way into the sickroom, Doc arms himself with a gun and sends for the marshal. Matt arrives to find the desperate situation and, after speaking with the barely conscious Lucy herself, supports Doc's decision to move her to his office for the operation. Aaron grows increasingly angry over being separated from his wife and barred from Doc's office while she's prepared for surgery. His frustration drives him to the Long Branch saloon, where he drowns his sorrows and finds a sympathetic ear in another drinker. As Aaron's anger builds and the whiskey flows, the stranger rallies the other patrons to help Aaron storm Doc's office and take Lucy back by force. Marshal Dillon must intervene before the mob reaches Doc and his patient, putting himself between an armed crowd and a woman's only chance at survival.