In Memory of Marcel, a Letter
to Dr. Om Sharma
Dear Dr. Om Sharma,
I am pleased that in 2006, the Southern California
Pulmonary Research Symposium has honored Marcel Krauthammer, MD's memory. His
"Mystery Chest X-ray Discussion" is again included in this year's
annual retreat, a "time honored, educational and enjoyable
tradition." I know that this inclusion would please my husband Marcel, of
blessed memory. Marcel would have turned 60 this week on May 10th. (Marcel's
first brain cancer surgery was at age 41.)
Thank you very much for offering your own case
presentations and stories at the Symposium this year. Your participation as
moderator and continuing this tradition means a lot to me. Enjoy our gift to you.
During prior conferences Marcel truly loved
offering this fun Saturday evening event and having the participation of the
faculty and fellows in his great medical passion, chest X-rays.
Marcel's extensive collection of chest X-rays has
been donated, as arranged by his colleagues and former students, (and I am grateful)
to UCLA's Radiology Department. Marcel was pleased to hear this news which he
received while in an ICU on a life-support system. This is the X-ray collection he had saved from the Veteran's Administration Medical Center/VAMC after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. I showed Marcel the photo of his X-ray
collection on view at UCLA.
Marcel loved teaching medicine and wanted to be the
best possible teacher to his students in the UCLA teaching campuses. Marcel
wanted to emulate his finest teachers, and he achieved his goals. Marcel was a
hero. After he retired, I watched him teach recognition of tumors on X-rays.
The students had no clue of Marcel's medical condition and he went from the lecture
into spinal cord tumor surgery, never to walk again.
"Marcel was relentless in his pursuit of
knowledge and in tracking down solutions to medical problems. He passed this
motivation on to everyone he taught," said Dr. Irwin Ziment.
Dr. Michael Golub stated, "Marcel's dedication to life-long
learning made him an excellent teacher and role model for students, faculty and
staff. His enthusiasm and energy were awe-inspiring."
In order to better guide medical students, interns,
residents, fellows, patients and their families through critical end-of-life
decisions, Marcel seriously studied Jewish Bio-Medical Ethics and Law / Halacha
in addition to medicine.
I am grateful for all the thoughtful ways in which
Marcel's colleagues have chosen to remember Marcel. It feels good to know that
Marcel has left a legacy in his chosen career. I promised Marcel that he would
not be forgotten. If some of your newer colleagues at the Symposium have
not known Marcel, they can see his smiling photo and UCLA obituary on the
internet. Computers had also been a major passion of Marcel's and now with his
death, he can be found in cyberspace.
If you knew Marcel, you experienced the humor and
detective work in his teaching. Marcel loved TV's "Columbo" (but
always asked me to figure out the mystery and explain to him).
Years ago I, too, enjoyed the annual conferences
and would assist Marcel in shlepping the big heavy 'view boxes' (to view
X-rays). Personally, since 1974 I especially liked knowing Marcel's
illustrious, caring colleagues and spouses who would also attend conferences.
Following Marcel's graduation from Albert Einstein
School of Medicine thirty-five years ago, and internship and residency at Long
Island Jewish Medical Center, Marcel began as a Fellow of Respiratory Medicine
under Dr. Karlman Wasserman and Dr. Irwin Ziment at Harbor General Hospital. In
1977 Marcel joined Sepulveda VAMC/Olive View Hospital/UCLA Medical Center to
begin serving as Director, Intensive Care Unit, Sepulveda VAMC and as UCLA
Professor of Medicine until he retired due to illness in 2000.
Dr. Irwin and Yda Ziment, dearest friends, have
been with Marcel through the UCLA system since 1974, the beginning of our
California lives and on the lengthy medical journey. Many of Marcel's former
Sepulveda VA and Olive View colleagues have kindly sent their condolences to me
when Marcel died almost four months ago on January 17, 2006 / 17 Tevet. Attending
Marcel's (standing room only) funeral were pulmonologists Dr. Karlman Wasserman
and Dr. Yo Aelony, colleagues from the beginning years at Harbor General
Hospital.
Marcel wanted us to move to California (following
his Residency) for Fellowship training in 1974 because of Dr. Wasserman's
teaching reputation. Marcel changed his mind about going into private practice
and refused a position with a group he had been offered. (This did not please his father.) It did not matter to
Marcel that there was only a very small hospital stipend at the start; he
wanted to learn under "the best." Marcel also approved of his later career hours,
mostly not 'on-call'.
Marcel's later colleagues and bosses, Drs. Jack
Lieberman, Michael Littner and Mike Golub were supportive of Marcel during the
eighteen years metastatic cancer-ridden journey. I hold all those treasured
friendships in my heart. Dr. Paul Selecky was there at the beginning of
Marcel's career, and when I called upon his "Palliative Care" wisdom
at the end of Marcel's life. Marcel's colleagues came when I called when Marcel
could no longer communicate. May his memory be a blessing.
Because Marcel's friend (Rabbi Y. Adlerstein) would call and ask, "How's the
good doc," I bless you and the faculty and fellows all the best in being
"good docs" in health and joy.
In Marcel's memory, I have planted "Marcel's
Garden of Joy" (filled with purple bearded irises) at Barlow Respiratory
Hospital, where Marcel had served as professor. He had served as President
of the Trudeau Society and held his meetings at Barlow; then he became a
patient for two months of those final six months on life-support. The medical staff was shocked to see Marcel arrive on a gurney as
a patient. I wish Marcel could have gone instead to the baseball games he dearly loved
at nearby Dodger Field in Elysian Park, location also of Barlow Respiratory
hospital.
Sincerely, and in gratitude,
Joy Krauthammer
May 6, 2006
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