Vital Times 2014 - (Page 57)
If I Could Speak
A Poem By John McDonald, MD
Introduction
By Stephen Jackson, MD
Editor Emeritus of the CSA Bulletin
A
year ago, I visited my longtime friend Jack McDonald, MD, Professor
Emeritus of Anesthesiology and of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. I shared with him my experience when
my 28-week premature granddaughter was born earlier in the year: the
frightening inability to prevent an early delivery, and the three stress-laden
months that followed in the NICU.
Jack and I recalled the evolution of NICUs that have reduced neonatal
morbidity and mortality multifold in this recent half century. Indeed,
while my granddaughter thankfully is thriving at a corrected age of 19
months, I well remember the birth - and death - in 1963 of President
Kennedy's youngest child, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. Born at 34½ weeks,
weighing 4 lbs 10 oz, he would almost certainly have survived if he had
been born today, thanks to the efforts of physicians like Jack.
Jack McDonald has had an extraordinary career of scientific
accomplishments. Double-boarded in OB/GYN and anesthesiology, in
1970 he was appointed chief of Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy
at the Women's Hospital of LAC+USC Medical Center. He soon became
deeply concerned at how premature babies were struggling to survive, and
how many died.
In that era, neonatologists had only a meager and largely ineffective
armamentarium for treating the inadequate respiration of premature
infants. Although they were receiving oxygen by small tubes in incubators,
many babies died for lack of neonatal ventilators, surfactant treatments,
and specialized care.
In 1972, Jack and his
colleagues pioneered
the idea for one of
the first neonatal
intensive care units.
Their innovative work
dramatically decreased
neonatal mortality
and morbidity in
Los Angeles.
(continued)
Annual Publication 2014 | 57
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vital Times 2014
AND NOW, A WORD FROM THE EDITOR
PRESIDENT’S PAGE
ON YOUR BEHALF: CSA Fights and Wins in 2014
ADAPT AND PROSPER: A Guide to Survival
POLITICS AND MEDICATION SAFETY: The CSA 2014 Annual Anesthesia Meeting
DR. CSA GOES TO WASHINGTON
CALIFORNIA ANESTHESIA RESIDENCY IN 2014
A NEW YEAR AND NEW LEADERSHIP IN THE CSA
CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC – CSA FINANCES IN OUR 2014-15 FISCAL YEAR
THE ASA ANNUAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING: Building for the Future
ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2014
CONSOLIDATION IN THE HEALTHCARE MARKETPLACE: What’s in your Future?
IF I COULD SPEAK
PEERING OVER THE ETHER SCREEN: Germs and the Pseudoscience of Quality Improvement
THE ETHICAL CONSULTANT: Perioperative ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Orders
THE VALUE OF CSA MEMBERSHIP
UPCOMING MEETINGS
MY WEEK ON HAWAII'S BIG ISLAND
Vital Times 2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/vital-times-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/vital-times-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/csvt/2014
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com