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Training & Practice Management / Formation et gestion d’une pratique (continued from page 45)
Dean Martin said that he would accept the application, on the condition that he left the McGill football team and obtain the money for the fees and microscope. He told Patterson Jr. that if he was not successful by Christmas, he’d be kicked out and Martin would make sure he did not get in to any other medical school. In 1936, after first-year Medicine at McGill, Patterson Jr. returned home. His father quizzed him about his answers to the anatomy questions which he had passed. Patterson Sr. concluded, “The standards at McGill must have fallen quite a bit over the years”. During the summers while he was in medical school, Patterson Jr. was dissecting in the morgue, attending outpatient clinics, and in the operating room at the insistence of his father. He wanted to intern in Toronto and was interviewed by Dr. W. E. Gallie who told him, “We don’t take McGill men here”. To which Patterson Jr. replied, “Maybe it’d be good a thing if you took the odd McGill man. It might be good for the University of Toronto and the Toronto General Hospital.” According to Patterson Jr., Gallie was very gracious and marvelous, and just roared with laughter and said, “I think you’ve got a good point.” Patterson received the appointment and was the only intern at Toronto General Hospital who did not graduate from the University of Toronto. Patterson Jr. began orthopaedic training under Dr. R. I. Harris, who had just started the first orthopaedic service in Toronto. One day, while working with Harris, Patterson Jr. developed abdominal pain. Dr. Bill Bigelow, (senior resident, who went on to become an outstanding cardiac surgeon), diagnosed appendicitis which was confirmed by Gallie. Patterson Jr. then assisted R. I. Harris with a hip procedure and was left to close the wound while Dr. Harris went to dinner. Harris returned to operate on Patterson Jr., beginning with an incom- F.P. Patterson Jr plete spinal anaesthetic and a subsequent general anaesthetic. A normal appendix was removed. Patterson Jr. became quite ill and a variety of diagnoses were made. He went on to receive M & B 693 which was one of the early antimicrobials, sulfonamide. This gave him severe gastritis. A business friend of his brought him a bottle of Walker’s Imperial Rye Whiskey. The following day, Patterson said he was a lot better.
During his internship, Patterson Jr. joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. With little to no orthopaedic education, he was posted to Jericho Beach Air Force Station in Vancouver where he worked with J. R. Naden and Donald Starr. In 1945 (end of World War II), he returned to Vancouver as Dr. Naden’s assistant. Patterson Jr. had no formal training, no specialist qualifications, and no certificate. In 1947, he went to the Hospital for Sick Children where he did a year of R. I. Harris surgery, most of which was orthopaedics with A. B. LeMesurier. During this time, Dr. Naden returned to Toronto for treatment of his non-union by Dr. R. I. Harris. Naden insisted on Roger-Anderson external fixation which Patterson Jr. applied for the revised hip arthrodesis. In 1947, Patterson successfully sat the fellowship examination. That same year, he returned to Vancouver and Dr. Naden became his patient for pin tract infections. The drainage from the pin sites was colloquially referred to as “Seattle serum”. Dr. H. H. Boucher was Acting Chief of Surgery at VGH and the orthopaedic staff consisted of Drs. Boucher, Naden, Starr and Patterson Jr. Each year there were 950 orthopaedic discharges plus 1,344 fracture patients, for a total of Patterson Jr. joined the Royal Canadian 2,294 patients. There were Air Force 3,434 operations. In 1950, the University of British Columbia Medical School opened and Dr. H. Rocke Robertson was appointed professor and head of the Department of Surgery. In 1951, Dr. Robertson appointed F. P. Patterson Jr. as head of the newly created Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and the era of academic orthopaedics in British Columbia had begun. To be continued!
COA Bulletin ACO - Summer / Été 2017