Assume the Position: Memoirs of an Obstetrician Gynecologist by Richard Houck MD Page B
Authors: Richard Houck MD
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it. Pennsylvania Hospital had one of the first Antenatal testing units and ultrasound machines. We needed it to identify how many babies we were dealing with, and whether they were alive or without heart beat. At the time of the Cesarean I put my hand in the uterus and pulled out the first baby who was alive. The second one I pulled out I of course expected to be the dead baby but it too was alive. I kept putting my hand into the uterus, pulling out living baby after living baby, while placing stat pages for more pediatricians. The first five were all alive and only the sixth was dead.
Then there was a true record multiple-birth I attended, perhaps a world record. In the ‘Old Days’, women in early labor would get enemas, walk, evacuate their lower bowels, and deliveries were much cleaner for everyone. Somewhere during residency in the late 1970’s this process changed and/or some women refused enemas. So be it. Mother Nature is what she is. As this patient pushed with the baby’s head on the perineum out from the rectum also came stool followed by a ball of white squiggly material that at first I had trouble identifying. As the ball disintegrated and began to move all over her perineum up to and over the crowning baby’s head, it became obvious that these were pinworms, hundreds if not thousands of them. The Guinness Book of world records would have been proud to witness this record number of deliveries from one person at the same time. I wasn’t. Watching worms crawl out of someone’ s rectum, over her perineum onto the baby’s head, and then having to remove them was less than thrilling for me. All in a day’s work, I suppose – but an experience never to forget!
Late one night a ‘private’ patient of one of the attending physicians was in labor. He had been there earlier to visit her and then departed for what everyone assumed would be a short rest. When it was time for her to deliver, stat overhead and beeper pages and calls to his office were unanswered. Since I was the senior resident on call that night I was expected to cover for him so I did the delivery. He never did answer or show up. Later that morning when his office opened he was found dead on his office desk. It turned out he was having sex on his desk with one of the hospital nurses and died right there on the spot. The nurse bolted and left him lying there with his pants down, so it was pretty obvious to those who found him what had happened. What a way to go! The last time I was in the lobby of this historical Women’s Lying In hospital I saw his portrait on the wall next to other titans who had served the institution well over the decades. I just couldn’t help thinking this story was the real reason he was being honored.
My four years of training eventually came to an end. It was true that formal education had stopped, but after becoming a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology with life long board certification, it was really illusory that education ever ended. As long as there were patients to be seen, as long as medical science progressed and changed, as long as new journals were published and read, as long as peer review remained important to me, education would never cease. It was simply a lifelong process.
With the completion of my formal training, my wife and I had decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona where I had a nice job offer awaiting me. I was about to join two former Philadelphia physicians, one of whom also trained a few years ahead of me at Pennsylvania Hospital. While still in my residency, he had returned to Philadelphia one week to recruit a prospective partner. I subsequently went to Phoenix to visit, see the practice, and meet his partner and their families. I had always wanted to go West, but never had the courage to do so by myself. Since my wife wanted the same thing, it was an
Then there was a true record multiple-birth I attended, perhaps a world record. In the ‘Old Days’, women in early labor would get enemas, walk, evacuate their lower bowels, and deliveries were much cleaner for everyone. Somewhere during residency in the late 1970’s this process changed and/or some women refused enemas. So be it. Mother Nature is what she is. As this patient pushed with the baby’s head on the perineum out from the rectum also came stool followed by a ball of white squiggly material that at first I had trouble identifying. As the ball disintegrated and began to move all over her perineum up to and over the crowning baby’s head, it became obvious that these were pinworms, hundreds if not thousands of them. The Guinness Book of world records would have been proud to witness this record number of deliveries from one person at the same time. I wasn’t. Watching worms crawl out of someone’ s rectum, over her perineum onto the baby’s head, and then having to remove them was less than thrilling for me. All in a day’s work, I suppose – but an experience never to forget!
Late one night a ‘private’ patient of one of the attending physicians was in labor. He had been there earlier to visit her and then departed for what everyone assumed would be a short rest. When it was time for her to deliver, stat overhead and beeper pages and calls to his office were unanswered. Since I was the senior resident on call that night I was expected to cover for him so I did the delivery. He never did answer or show up. Later that morning when his office opened he was found dead on his office desk. It turned out he was having sex on his desk with one of the hospital nurses and died right there on the spot. The nurse bolted and left him lying there with his pants down, so it was pretty obvious to those who found him what had happened. What a way to go! The last time I was in the lobby of this historical Women’s Lying In hospital I saw his portrait on the wall next to other titans who had served the institution well over the decades. I just couldn’t help thinking this story was the real reason he was being honored.
My four years of training eventually came to an end. It was true that formal education had stopped, but after becoming a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology with life long board certification, it was really illusory that education ever ended. As long as there were patients to be seen, as long as medical science progressed and changed, as long as new journals were published and read, as long as peer review remained important to me, education would never cease. It was simply a lifelong process.
With the completion of my formal training, my wife and I had decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona where I had a nice job offer awaiting me. I was about to join two former Philadelphia physicians, one of whom also trained a few years ahead of me at Pennsylvania Hospital. While still in my residency, he had returned to Philadelphia one week to recruit a prospective partner. I subsequently went to Phoenix to visit, see the practice, and meet his partner and their families. I had always wanted to go West, but never had the courage to do so by myself. Since my wife wanted the same thing, it was an
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