"Home Surgery" was presented as a radio broadcast before it aired on television. In the radio version, the daughter's name was "Tara Hantree."
With her appearance here, Gloria Talbott (Holly Hawtree) became the first guest star to appear in both of the 1955-56 season's two "adult Westerns." Just several weeks earlier, Talbott played Abby Crandall in Mr. Earp Meets a Lady (1955).
The Gunsmoke radio program's 29th episode, airing November 7, 1952, was a sequel to "Home Surgery" titled "Tara" (Holly Hawtree is Tara Hantree in the radio versions). The setting is Dodge City four months after the events of "Home Surgery." Tara has been adopted by the Kells, a wealthy churchgoing couple. Miss Kitty warns Matt that Tara has fallen for a dangerous saddle tramp named Jack Grace, and Matt intercedes. This sequel was never adapted for television. (This episode of the radio program is freely available on YouTube and elsewhere.)
The September 13, 1952 Gunsmoke radio drama of "Home Surgery" had several differences from its television adaptation. Among them, Matt and Chester were looking for a killer, not returning a prisoner; Chester was the first one awake and had prepared the coffee, and it is Chester who coaxes a reluctant Matt into performing the amputation.