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Doctor Curmudgeon®: Another Good Old Ben!

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By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP

The fireworks have stopped.

Our proudly flying flag left our balcony to rest before its next outing.

The fourth of July was just a few days ago.

And, as a physician, my thoughts have been roaming back to an early time, when a very special medical leader had emerged and cast his long shadow in so many areas besides the practice of Medicine.

Dr. Benjamin Rush is a familiar name to most of us.

Not just a respected Philadelphia doctor, he was a politician and a leader of the American Revolution.

Way back in 1788, he led Pennsylvania in their ratification of the constitution and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

He wore so many hats and even taught chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Yet, he still found the time and energy to found The Dickinson College.

Dr. Rush was Surgeon General of the Continental Army and he did his best in disease prevention in military medicine; writing an order “Directions for preserving the health of soldiers.” His important directive continued to be published many times and was republished for the last time in 1908.

This curmudgeon becomes exhausted merely listing some of his accomplishments. Indefatigable Ben spoke French, Italian and Spanish; wrote the first textbook on Chemistry to be published in America, in addition to all his essays on patriotism and medical education.

Even Thomas Paine turned to Benny for some consultation on his pamphlet, “Common Sense.”

As a wartime doctor, he was able to influence President George Washington to get the whole Continental
Army to inoculate the troops with that new-fangled thing, called the Smallpox vaccine. No small feat in those early days of medicine in this country.

Dr. Rush was appalled at the sight of slave ships and was a loud voice against slavery and a member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society

Good Old Ben! After his attendance at the Continental Congress, he described himself, “He aimed right.”

Indeed!

Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.

SERMO www.sermo.com “talk real world medicine”

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