By Amin H. Karim MD
That’s Norman Shumway, the first to perform heart transplant in USA in 1968, after Christian Bernard did the first in the world in 1967. ( I had just graduated from school!) . Unfortunately never met Dr. Shumway, although he may have come to Texas Heart Institute and known Howard Frazier who was into heart transplants in Houston. Shumway died in 2006 of lung cancer. Amazingly, two other legends at Houston Methodist Stanley Crawford, pioneer of aortic aneurysm surgery, and Jimmy Howell, both smokers and both died of lung cancer!. May they all rest in Peace. They gave a lot to humanity. They lived in times when doctors advertised smoking for asthma!
ABOUT Dr. DEBAKEY
It is said as a kid DeBakey who grew up in New Orleans went to the school library and asked the librarian if he could borrow the Encyclopedia Brittanica; the librarian of course told him he cannot since it is a reference. His dad bought a set for him and he read all the volumes cover to cover.
MEDs preferred cardiologist was Dr. Mohammed Attar, a solo like me; he probably liked him because Attar is very good and meticulous and also because his roots are in Syria and Lebanon like Dr DeBakey. Attar and I covered each other for more than 20 years. MED daily rounds would start exactly at 3 pm. He would be walking VIP the stairs with his entourage of Dr Attar, fellows residents behind. One nurse said you guys look like a hen followed by chicken. 🙂 when Attar was out of town I would have to be ready by 3 and know all his patients like an intern! But he was always nice as long as you knew the patients.
Dr. DeBakey had his office on the 9th floor of Fondren Building in Methodist. He had the privilege of holding the fireman’s key to the elevator. When he got in he would use the key and press 9 which means elevator goes straight to 9. One was supposed to leave the elevator regardless and he would ride up. May he rest in Peace.
Some good things about MED ( initials for Michael E. DeBakey) he did open hearts by thousands. Kept a file on each patient. If we Cath his patients later we would have to send a diagram to him. He would carefully record the findings comparing with the ones before and after surgery and write pencil notes. His office was inside the hospital; he stayed on full time faculty of Baylor till the end and never did private practice. Passed away in 2008 at age 99.
Late Denton Cooley certainly was the more friendly of the two. He held cardiologists close to his heart inviting them to his ranch every year ( Cool Acres Ranch in Rosenberg) for BBQ. He would play softball with the kids he had 5 daughters ( some were surgeons). Cardiologist Virendra Mathur made him famous in India and many came to him including Kishore Kumar, Madam Noor Jehan and others. When General Habibullah ( Gen Ayub Khan’s samdee) who was Mathur’s patient when he found out there was a Pakistani cardiologist next door in Methodist he switched over and he remained my patient till the end; same happened with some others from Pakistan. Later Cooley did not get into newer techniques like mini cab calling them gimmicks.
Certainly Naeem as time permits; have seen and worked with both of them over the years and of course heard a lot of Doctors Lounge Talk. I was one if the blokes who was on good terms with both these “ rivals” in two neighboring hospitals. Late Oro dental surgeon Oscar Moldonado and Dr. George Noon would similarly claim!
I will try to keep what I write free of what can even remotely be construed as gossip or back biting (the latter strictly not allowed in Islam). Will write what I saw or others who I trust recounted. Of course, being busy and running to different hospitals to make a living, there was no time to record numbers and stats. etc ( not easily revealed by hospitals anyway). Blogs better than books since they can be updated and read by all for free. History aside, maybe other interventionists will take a hint and start their own blogs and record their interesting cases and how they were treated ( I see some remarkable cases on WhatsApp groups). Later new fellows can benefit from it. WhatsApp and FaceBook messages are fleeting. YouTube can also be used similarly by creating your own channel. Just have to make sure patient ID remains hidden (we know the rules) Youtube is universal and residents all over the globe can benefit. This is all informal, ongoing and individually powered and costs nothing.
Author can be reached at globelinker@gmail.com
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