| |
 |
| Peter L. McDermott, M.D.,
Ph.D. |
The Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture is sponsored
annually by the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
(WLM) and honors its namesake, who was a pioneer in
American anesthesia. Dr. Wright was committed to enhancing
the stature of anesthesiology as a clinical science
and as an advanced medical specialty. He was a founding
member of the WLM Board of Trustees and later served
as its President-Emeritus. In 1975, the New York State
Society of Anesthesiologists endowed this history
lectureship to honor Dr. Wright, who died in 1974.
This year’s distinguished speaker is Peter L.
McDermott, M.D., Ph.D., 1993 ASA President. Dr. McDermott
graduated from Marquette University School of Medicine
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1960 and completed his
anesthesiology residency at Marquette in 1965. He
served as Chief of Anesthesia at Martin Army Hospital
in Fort Benning, Georgia, from 1963-64 and moved to
southern California to practice anesthesiology from
1965-75. He served as Vice-Chair of the Department
of Anesthesia at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital
and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from
1975-77. However, his heart belonged to the Pacific
Coast, and he returned to Camarillo, California, where
he has lived for the past 27 years.
Once settled, Dr. McDermott immersed himself in organized
medical activities. He was the president of the medical
staff at St. John’s Regional Medical Center
in Oxnard in 1980 and the Ventura County Medical Association
in 1988. As a member of the California Medical Association,
he served on several committees, including the Medi-Cal
Committee and the Committee on Malpractice Crisis.
Dr. McDermott was a member of nine committees within
the California Society of Anesthesiologists and served
as its president from 1984-85 and on the Board of
Directors from 1979-90. Dr. McDermott was a member
of 15 committees and sections within ASA and has been
a member of the House of Delegates from 1979 to the
present. His leadership skills, easygoing nature and
tireless committee work were recognized when he was
elected ASA President in 1993.
All of these accomplishments were achieved without
the benefit of an undergraduate college degree. You
see, Dr. McDermott left Marquette University after
three years and enrolled directly into medical school.
But years later, the humanities called to him: He
took an evening course in Asian history in 1990, which
eventually led to a B.A. with honors in History from
California Lutheran University.
Then Dr. McDermott did something many of us only dream
of — he enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences at the University of California-Santa
Barbara. He was the oldest student in the department,
and most of his professors were younger. He overcame
the awkwardness of sitting with students from a different
generation, students unfamiliar with the politics
of organized medicine or the rigors of night call
in a busy hospital. He shared his experiences and
offered his insights, which are the gifts of a mature
mind and a worldly thinker.
Dr. McDermott focused on 17th century British history
and became intrigued by Sir Henry Vane, Jr. (1613-1662).
Henry Vane was the son of an English statesman and
an early convert to Puritanism. He left England at
age 22 and became Governor of Massachusetts in 1636.
While in office, he supported Anne Hutchinson in her
pursuit of religious freedom; for this, Vane was politically
marked. After losing the 1637 gubernatorial election,
he returned to England, entered Parliament and was
knighted in 1640. Vane promoted religious tolerance
and eventually fell out of favor. He opposed the establishment
of a national church as the only place of worship
and was imprisoned in 1656 for writing a pamphlet
called “A Healing Question.” When the
Restoration Government assumed power, Vane was considered
a threat to the re-establishment of the monarchy,
convicted of high treason and beheaded. In June 2002,
Dr. McDermott completed his Ph.D. dissertation, which
was titled “Sir Henry Vane, Jr., The Formation
of a Puritan Conscience.”
For this year’s lecture, Dr. McDermott will
discuss “Fallacies and Useful Truths: An Overview
of History and Science for the Anesthesiologist.”
In this talk, he will range over the territory of
the professional historian and reveal the assumptions,
biases, misunderstandings and misuses of the past.
He will show how history is constructed and deconstructed
and how errors in method and attitude have made the
writing of history challenging; hence, the subtitle
“Lust, Torture and Depravity, The Anatomy of
Derangement.” Dr. McDermott’s talk will
force us to ponder why history matters and why it
may not. Finally, he will relate these theories to
the discoveries of anesthesia and its development
as a medical specialty in the modern world.
The Wood Library-Museum is honored to have Dr. Peter
L. McDermott as the 2003 Lewis H. Wright Memorial
Lecturer. As this is the 40th anniversary of attending
his first ASA Annual Meeting, it will be a celebration
of a journey with many turns in the road. Forty-three
years after graduating from medical school, Dr. McDermott
will be starting a second career teaching history
at California Lutheran University. We thank him for
being such a fine example of scholarly determination
and academic accomplishment.
| |
|
Susan A. Vassallo, M.D., is an anesthesiologist
at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts and a Trustee of the Wood Library-Museum. |
|
|
return to top
|