liver Franklin “Mike” Bush, M.D., died on March 31, 2005, in Fort Collins, Colorado, at the age of 86. Dr. Bush was president of ASA during turbulent times when the Society established itself as a leader of medical societies and struggled to define its ethical principles. The Society moved into permanent headquarters, established a library/museum to preserve its heritage and adopted the findings of a massive nationwide Anesthesia Survey, which studied the perceived professional reputation of its practitioners.

Oliver F. Bush, M.D.

Dr. Bush played an important role in all of these developments but was most intimately involved in implementing the recommendations of the Anesthesia Survey. Dr. Bush recognized the importance of the survey by saying in his presidential address, “Rarely has any project been viewed with more immediate suspicion when introduced and then endorsed with more earnest enthusiasm once it was under way. The testimony presented at the reference committee hearings on this matter was overwhelmingly in favor of implementing the recommendations in the report of the Anesthesia Survey Committee. This we will do with vigor.”¹

In addition Dr. Bush ordered the ASA’s Statement of Policy to be re-examined. The Statement of Policy described the proper professional relationship of anesthesiologists to nurse anesthetists. He said that ASA must hold fast to two principles: 1) The patient shall not be deceived as to the identity of the person giving the anesthetic; and 2) any action that forces the patient to be anesthetized by someone other than a qualified anesthesiologist is wrong. The vigor in his words was translated into vigorous action during his year as president.

He was born January 5, 1919, in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Columbus, Georgia. He attended Emory University in Atlanta for both his undergraduate and medical degrees, receiving his M.D. in 1942. His career in medicine spanned the entire modern age of medicine, as he entered medical school before the advent of antibiotics. His teachers taught him to listen to and comfort his patients, a trait he never lost. When World War II began, he was advised to complete his medical studies before enlisting. So following his internship at Metropolitan Hospital in 1943 in New York City, he served as a Flight Surgeon in the Army Air Corps, with the 409th Fighter Squadron, then as Base Surgeon at the Army Air Base in Kahuku, Hawaii. During his training in aviation medicine at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas, he met and married Madelaine Russell Drummond in September 1944. Although the courtship was brief, the marriage lasted more than 60 years, and they were finally separated only by death.²

After the war, he practiced general medicine in Menard, Texas, for three years during which he developed a passion for delivering to his patients the best that modern medicine had to offer. Each time he set a broken bone or delivered a baby, he asked himself, “Could this have been better done by an orthopedist or an obstetrician?” He resolved to specialize and was pondering his choices when he met John Adriani, M.D., at a medical meeting and decided on a residency in anesthesiology from 1949-51 at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, where Dr. Adriani was chair.3 He served as Director of Anesthesia at St. Paul Hospital in Dallas from 1951-72 and was Clinical Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Southwestern Medical School from 1953-73. He was the first president of the Dallas County Anesthesiology Society and was elected to the Academy of Anesthesiology in 1965.

After surviving his first MI in 1972, he moved to Crested Butte, Colorado, and as his recovery progressed, he resumed practice in Gunnison, Colorado, where he became Chief of Staff of Gunnison County Hospital from 1975-76. He also worked as a physician surveyor for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals from 1977-79. Declining health prompted a move to Fort Collins, Colorado, where he resided until his death. His wife, Madelaine, six children, 16 grandchildren and three brothers survive him.

Dr. Bush’s presidency of the ASA in 1964 is typical of the outstanding leadership in the Society during that decade of extreme growth and turbulence. The wisdom of his decisions and actions has greatly improved the reputation of the Society and the professionalism of its members. May he rest in peace.


References:

1. New president speaks to 1963 House of Delegates. ASA Newsl. 1964; 28(2):3.

2. Obituary written by Dr. James Bush for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. April 3, 2005.

3. Anesthesiologist from moral need, Dr. Oliver F. Bush. Medical Tribune. December 17, 1962.

Adolph H. Giesecke, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management and Former Jenkins Professor and Chair, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.