In 1949 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in McConnell v. Williams, compared a surgeon’s control in the operating room to that of “the captain of a ship over all on board.” Under the resulting doctrine, “a surgeon of record is liable for all actions conducted in the course of the operation.” The surgeon answered for every nurse and assistant in the room.
The doctrine was popular in the 1950s and later declined. Wisconsin’s supreme court declined to adopt it, and commentators call it “anachronistic.” The phrase is still in use.