Category: History and current events

From the O.R. to the Oval Office- 3 Docs Who Ran

Anyone who is following the United States Presidential campaign knows it has become one of the most unexpected, unpredictable, and contentious races in history. And so far the candidates are only vying for their parties’ nominations.

The qualifications for President are fairly simple (at least it seemed so until the controversy over Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.)

U.S. Constitution Requirements for a Presidential Candidate:
  • Be at least 35 years old
  • Be a natural-born citizen of the United States
  • Been a resident of the United States for 14 years

In the Naturalization Act of 1790, the First Congress provided that children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, . . . shall be considered as natural born citizens . . . . Thus Senator John McCain of Arizona, born in the Panama Canal Zone; Governor George Romney of Michigan, born in Mexico, and Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, born in Arizona before it became a state were all eligible to run for president, though none of them won. Senator Barack Obama, born in Hawaii when it was a state, was eligible and won the presidency in 2008.

How to become President inforgraphic
The Presidential pathway from USA.gov

The election process is anything but simple. The candidates campaign to secure delegates to their party’s convention through caucuses or primaries in each state. Then at the convention they must win the nomination to be on the ballot to win the electors in each state.

Finally, the Electoral College votes on which candidate will be President. Even that might not be final since in one recent election  the final decision ended up in the Supreme Court (Bush vs Gore).

Holding the office of the President is our country’s highest honor but the job of president has become so thankless I wonder why anyone wants to do it. But I am grateful that people volunteer for and seek the position, and this year three of the candidates are physicians. (three that I discovered; if you know of others, please tell me.)

These posts are meant to inform, not influence you; they do not indicate an endorsement of the candidates. I will not promote or endorse any candidate on this blog.

In medical usage, progress notes are “Records kept by health care workers to indicate the course of the patient during care”

I have written some “progress notes” about each candidate that will give you a glimpse into their professional, personal and political lives.

statue of George Washington in Manhattan
statue of General George Washington, first President of the United States of America – New York City

Jill Stein, M.D.- Green Party candidate 

Dr. Stein, an internist,  is running for President for the Green Party.

Here are some notes about her.

  1. Dr. Stein graduated from Harvard Medical School.
  2. Her hobbies include writing and performing music.
  3. She ran for President in 2012, also on the Green Party ticket.
  4. She is a physician’s wife, mother, internal medicine physician/teacher and “environmental-health advocate.”
  5. She developed the “Healthy People, Healthy Planet” teaching program.
  6. She has been interviewed on the Today Show, 20/20 and Fox News network.
  7. In Massachusetts she ran for Governor, State Representative and Secretary of State.
  8. She co-founded the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, a non-profit organization.
  9. She likes to walk with her Great Dane Bandita.
  10. She has advocated for several environmental issues in her home state-
  • Mercury contamination of fish
  • The “Filthy Five” coal plants clean up
  • Mercury and dioxin contamination from burning trash
The Presidential Oval Office at the Reagan Library
a replica of the White House Oval Office at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Next post- two Republican candidates  are doctors.

Do you know who they are?

How Women Changed and are Changing Healthcare

The first woman graduate of a United States medical school was born in Bristol England in 1821. Elizabeth Blackwell came to this country as a child and originally had no interest in medicine. But when a dying friend told her, “I would have been spared suffering if a woman had been my doctor”, she found her calling.

By 2022 statistics published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 47% of United States medical school graduates are women; in some states, over 50% are women. If that trend continues, eventually at least half of all practicing physicians in the United States will be women. Now about one-third are female.

class reunion
My medical school graduating class at our 30th reunion; the original class was larger, 150 students, but the percentage of women was the same as in this photo. (I’m in the pink dress)

I and other women physicians owe a debt to the women who paved the way for us. This post introduces some of them.

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Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell

The first woman graduate of a United States medical school was born in Bristol England in 1821. (thank you, UK readers). Elizabeth Blackwell came to this country as a child and originally had no interest in medicine. But when a dying friend told her, “I would have been spared suffering if a woman had been my doctor”, she found her calling.

She was denied admission to multiple medical schools. The Geneva Medical College of New York submitted her application to the student body for a vote, and, as a joke, they voted to admit her. Well, the joke was on them as she enrolled, completed medical school and graduated in 1849.

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Read more detail about How Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman doctor in the United States

A hospital for and by women

Dr. Blackwell, her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell, and a German physician, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, opened and administered the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857.

Dr. Emily Blackwell managed the Infirmary for 40 years. Dr. Marie Zakrzewska moved to Boston when she founded the New England Hospital for Women and Children, which trained women physicians and cared for the poor.

Due to failing health, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell retired from practice in the 1870s.

The Physicians Mom Group (PMG) declared Dr. Blackwell’s birthday on February 3 as National Women Physicians Day. This day celebrates all the significant contributions that women physicians make daily, none of which would have been possible without Elizabeth Blackwell.

Dr.Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Before founding her hospital, Dr.Zakrzewska served as a professor at the New England Female Medical College. That school produced another notable women physician, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler.

Dr. Crumpler graduated in 1864, becoming the first African-American woman to earn an M.D. in the United States.  After practicing in Boston, she moved to Virginia where she and other black physicians cared for freed slaves, who otherwise would have had no access to medical care.

In 1883 Dr. Crumpler wrote a book of medical advice for women and children, titled Book of Medical Discourses, one of the earliest medical publications by an African American. Unfortunately, no photos of Dr. Crumpler are known. to exist.

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Dr. Virginia Apgar

More recently, a woman physician’s work has impacted the lives of countless babies and their families. If you have had a baby, or been born within the past 60 years, you benefited from the work of Virginia Apgar, M.D.

She was neither an obstetrician or a pediatrician, but an anesthesiologist. As she observed deliveries of infants she proposed a scale to rate how well a newborn was adapting to life outside the mother.

She considered 5 factors:

  1. heart rate
  2. respiratory (breathing) rate,
  3. muscle tone,
  4. reflexes, and
  5. color-pink (warm) or blue(cold)

And assigned each a score- 0, 1, or 2, at 1 minute of age, and again at 5 minutes.

So a newborn had a potential score as low as 0 and as high as 10.

The higher the score, referred to as the Apgar score, the more likely the baby was healthy and would do well. The lower the score meant the baby was in trouble, and needed intensive medical attention.

crying baby
courtesy Pixabay

After testing the use of the rating scale over several years, doctors starting using it routinely; so for the past 50-60 years almost all babies have been “graded” with an Apgar score at birth. The Apgar score  is used widely throughout the world.

Dr. Apgar, who played violin and cello in her college orchestra, was appointed the first full professor of medicine at Columbia University and also was a director for the March of Dimes.

 

Women are changing the face of medicine

The National Library of Medicine profiles these and many other women physicians at Changing the face of Medicine – celebrating America’s women physicians.

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sharing the HEART of women physicians

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