National Doctors' Day 2027 is on Tuesday

About National Doctors' Day

The day gives patients, hospital staff and colleagues a set moment to recognize doctors, from family physicians to surgeons and residents. Hospitals and medical groups often mark it with thank-you cards, staff lunches or messages from patients, and the red carnation has long served as its symbol.

According to the Southern Medical Association, the idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, in Winder, Georgia. The Alliance to the Barrow County Medical Society held the first Doctors' Day in 1933, with cards mailed to physicians and flowers placed on the graves of doctors who had died. The date honors March 30, 1842, when Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, used ether to anesthetize a patient during an operation. The Georgia State Medical Alliance adopted the observance in 1934, and the women's alliance of the Southern Medical Association took it up in 1935.

In 1990 Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 366, sponsored by members of Mississippi's delegation, and President George H. W. Bush signed it on October 30, 1990, as Public Law 101-473. The resolution's text designated March 30, 1991, as National Doctors' Day, but March 30 has been kept every year since by hospitals, medical associations and the public. It is a commemorative day, not a federal holiday.

Other countries honor doctors on different dates. India's National Doctors' Day is July 1, the birth and death anniversary of physician and statesman Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, and Canada marks National Physicians' Day on May 1, a date the Canadian Medical Association chose to honor Dr. Emily Stowe, an early woman physician in Canada.

Sources: Southern Medical Association: National Doctors' Day and its history, Congress.gov: S.J.Res.366 (101st Congress), Public Law 101-473 (archived copy), Health Canada: Message from the Minister of Health on National Physicians' Day, May 1, 2021. How we check dates.

How to mark National Doctors' Day

• Write a thank-you note to a doctor who cared for you or a family member, mentioning what made a difference.
• If you work in a hospital or clinic, organize a card that patients and staff can sign for the physicians on your unit.
• Book a checkup you have been putting off and ask your doctor about any screenings recommended for your age.
• Give a red carnation, the traditional symbol of the day, to a physician you work with.
• Learn about Dr. Crawford Long and the early history of anesthesia, the event the date commemorates.

National Doctors' Day dates