Michael E. DeBakey, MD

It was an honor to be asked by Dr. W. Gerald Rainer to write about the life of my beloved Chairman, teacher, loyal supporter and generous friend to me and my family for over 34 years. His exceptional career and monumental achievements have been well documented and will continue to be described in detail for years to come. I, therefore, thought that it may be of interest to make some observations about his personal beliefs and qualities as I observed them on a daily basis over a long period of time in a variety of settings.
 
In the final year of his life, Dr. DeBakey was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, a truly rare and exceptional honor. The medal, on one side shows an excellent likeness of him standing in the OR with his team. On the obverse side he chose to display an inscription stating, “The pursuit of excellence has been my objective in life.” The desire to achieve excellence, to be the best, had arisen through the influence of his family and the development of his own innate qualities. As his life in medicine developed, this pursuit became closely integrated with his belief in the Golden Rule: “do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Matthew 7:12) He stated frequently that this was really the only bioethical principle necessary to practice medicine. He also believed in the statement of Oliver Wendell Holmes that “The best a physician can give is never too good for the patient.” He demanded excellence of himself and those around him on behalf of his patients. He drove himself relentlessly to ensure that he was always fully informed and knew every detail of his patient’s condition or any administrative issue. As a result of this and his long experience, his judgment and decisions about so many situations, clinical or administrative, were almost always right. He always was the best informed about every detail of any situation. He could be relied upon not only to provide good advice to us but was also generous with his time, despite his frantic schedule.
 
He was dedicated to teaching at all levels. He very much enjoyed his interactions with the medical students and young residents. He particularly admired the young women entering surgery. He upset the young men who experienced his wrath for their shortcomings with his kind, gracious and patient demeanor when correcting the same problem with one of the female residents.
 
His frequent participation at medical meetings all over the world, his scholarship and constant stream of publications ensured that he maintained a broad knowledge of medicine. In addition, he maintained close knowledge of basic research through his long associations with the Lasker Foundation (later renamed the Lasker-DeBakey Foundation) and the National Advisory Heart and Lung Council of the National Institutes of Health.
 
Because of his excellent clinical skills, vast experience and judgment, he was frequently called on by many notable figures to care for them or consult on their condition. He was a man of great discretion. I never once heard him discuss one of these or any other patient outside of a strictly medically related setting. I confided in him without reservation about matters that were of concern to me and did so in the knowledge that he would use whatever information he gained in a positive and constructive manner.

I always felt that he treated us with the utmost integrity and affection. To say that the Department of Surgery contained some strong characters would be an understatement.  Throughout our many Faculty meetings and the sometimes contentious issues which arose, he was always calm, patient and conciliatory. He repeatedly told us we were a “family” and he treated us in this way. Despite the large size of the Department and the multiple institutions represented, he always devoted himself to ensuring that all our needs were met and that we worked together for the good of our patients, Department, students, residents and Fellows.

He was always punctual, always waiting for us when we arrived at meetings. The meetings ended punctually when his large “Cricket” wrist watch, with a loud alarm, sounded the “time up” signal. He was very proud of this watch which he has seen being used by a number of U.S. Presidents including Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and especially his friend, President Johnson.
 
Another great quality was his ability to delegate responsibility. His skill in judging the capacity of others to carry out his projects undoubtedly contributed to his willingness to entrust these responsibilities. In this way he was able to continue to seek out and accomplish fresh projects. It was his remarkable capacity to lead in this way that enabled him to serve as Chairman of the Department, run a practice with a census of 120-150 patients a day while at the same time leading Baylor College of Medicine as President from a small regional medical school to nationally preeminent institution by the 1990’s. All this was done while constantly traveling nationally and internationally.

He was a man of great determination. Once he had decided on a course of action he would overcome all obstacles to achieve that goal. I personally observed a number of his projects come to fruition which had taken him 5-10 years to achieve. Some of these had required considerable effort to overcome widespread resistance and skepticism, and to gather commitments for the necessary resources.
 
There has been much publicity in recent years over the reconciliation of Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Cooley. Although I had arrived in Houston a few years after Dr. Cooley had left the Department, I never once heard Dr. DeBakey discuss these events in public or privately.

Dr. DeBakey was a truly gifted surgeon. It was a pleasure of the highest order to participate with him in performing complex major surgery especially when assisted by his legendary scrub nurse Ellen Morris. Many times it rose to the level of an aesthetic experience as insuperable technical challenges simply melted away as the operation progressed. He emphasized the most meticulous surgical technique. The operations proceeded at speeds amazing to me in the 1970’s and yet seemed unhurried. It became apparent that this was the product of an intense effort to simplify the procedures to their most basic elements with minimal dissection of these tissues, rapid, hemostatic suture lines, and non-stop action from the skin incision to closure. He enjoyed operating and derived great pleasure from these abilities. He had large, strong hands and was proud of them. I learnt a lot from Dr. DeBakey in the OR. He was a very patient teacher. In those early years I recall several serious problems of my making that developed during surgery while I was operating on complex cases of his and needed his help. He was always helpful but most remarkable to me was the fact that he never once was upset with me or ever mentioned the incident after the event.

Once Dr. DeBakey determined that someone was committed to hard work, excellence and shared his goals, he was the most loyal and generous friend one could imagine. Despite his non-stop schedule, he would always find time to write letters of recommendation or make calls to assist us or our families and birthdays were always remembered. On the other hand, he became quite upset if he felt the care of a patient had been compromised by carelessness or indifference.
 
Until the end of his life, Dr. DeBakey maintained an extraordinary active and wide ranging intellectual curiosity. He was always interested in the latest innovations in medicine, and in the national political scene in Washington, where he had spent so much time. He was working on several publications at the time of his death.
 
Dr. DeBakey had volunteered for military service at the outbreak of World War II and served in the Surgeon-General’s office of the U.S. Army. He worked tirelessly to optimize the surgical care of the troops in the field. He also learnt a lot about how large organizations function. He saw a lot of the workings of the Congress and met many people in the political world. He maintained these contacts after the war and made frequent visits to Washington over the years to obtain funding for projects and influence health care policy. These longstanding friendships were very productive for research funding for medical centers such as ours and the NIH.

Dr. DeBakey was a powerful force for good throughout his life. He led a life of courage and displayed indefatigable stamina and determination. On many occasions I saw him experience extreme fatigue to the point of exhaustion. He would never let this slow him down. He fought for his beliefs and goals. He survived personal sorrows and several very serious illnesses. He ignored the vicissitudes of advancing age and overcame a near fatal aortic dissection. Through his example, he inspired numerous young surgeons to achieve levels of skill, judgment and productivity beyond their wildest dreams. 

Through his reputation and extraordinary achievements he developed a unique credibility which he used to further the fight to relieve human suffering. Though not physically a large man, to those of us around him he always seemed to be a giant, larger than life, yet modest and approachable. It was appropriate that Dr. DeBakey was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. He spent his long life at the center of the struggle. We remember him most of all as our surgical father, a wise, great, patient and caring man who changed the course of our own lives and so many others. We miss him so much.

Gerald M. Lawrie, MD
The Michael E. DeBakey Professor of Cardiac Surgery
The Methodist Hospital
Houston, Texas USA