A Brief History of Lahey Clinic
When Dr. Frank Howard Lahey founded a group practice in 1923—and gave it his own name—it was an unconventional step in the world of medicine.
His plan to create a clinic where many specialties would coexist under one roof was
a source of considerable debate. But only a decade later, newspaper headlines
were describing this unusual place as the “World Famous Lahey Clinic.”
Building a Group Practice
It goes without saying that Lahey's original team—anesthesiologist Lincoln Sise,
operating nurse Blanche Wallace, surgical assistant Howard Clute, and
gastroenterologist Sara Jordan—were pioneers in their fields. There were likely
few physicians at the time who didn't toast to Jordan as they sipped a
stomach-soothing “Jordan Highball” (half orange juice, half hot water) or
administer anesthesia using a “Sise introducer.”
The year was 1925, and hospitals were springing up in urban centers throughout the
nation, following the development of new medical technologies and growth in the
nursing profession. At this time, a young Dr. Lahey—already a prominent figure
in the Boston surgical community—stood at 605 Commonwealth Ave., observing the
placement of a cornerstone. This is where Lahey Clinic would remain for another
55 years.
Physicians saw only outpatients at Lahey Clinic in Boston. In fact, much of the day was
spent traveling between the New England Baptist, New England Deaconess, and
Peter Bent Brigham hospitals to perform surgeries and visit inpatients. Shifts
were often in excess of 24 hours, and five hours was described as “a good
night's sleep.”
“We were called out to outlying Greater Boston towns for emergencies—to towns and
cities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine,” said Wallace in a 1958 speech to
the Harvard Club. “Winter trips with Dr. Clute were especially rugged for he
was the outdoor type who preferred an open touring car. We would go a few
shivering miles, pile out, scrape the ice from the glass, get back into the
cold, wet seats—only to repeat the performance again and again. But we always
seemed to get there ‘on time.'
“It was on these trips with Dr. Lahey that I learned what his dream was—a Lahey Clinic
complete in every detail for the care and cure of the sick.”
By the 1930s and ‘40s, the Clinic was known worldwide for its phenomenal surgical
outcomes, and state-of-the-art treatment of thyroid, gastrointestinal and gall
bladder disorders.
At the Forefront of Medicine
“It is obvious that I cannot begin to recount Dr. Lahey's contributions to World
Surgery. He was unswervingly committed to the practice and teaching of careful
surgery, making operations safer in the hands of the average surgeon,” wrote
Bradford Cannon, MD, in his history of the Boston Surgical Society.
The reputation that Lahey Clinic has for innovative technology, pioneer medical
treatment and leading-edge research was built upon Dr. Lahey's belief that the
group practice should also be a center for research and learning. From the
beginning, the Clinic offered residents and fellows a chance to polish their
skills under the careful supervision of some of the nation's leading
physicians.
Kenneth Warren, MD, a senior surgeon in the 1970s, was quoted as saying: “Dr. Lahey was
a natural born teacher. He would go to any meeting—he didn't care how small it
was—if he thought he could contribute something.”
A teaching hospital is not complete without cutting-edge technology, which is
something the Clinic consistently made available—whether becoming the proud
owner of an X-ray machine in 1925, a state-of-the-art “Model O” heart-lung
machine in 1969, a whole body ACTA-scanner in 1975, or a PACS digital archiving
system in 2002.
By the time the Clinic moved to its current location in November 1980, the practice
had expanded to include services offered by more than 30 departments. Many of these
departments had begun with a single physician who worked to promote his or her specialty. The
Gastroenterology and Anesthesiology Departments, in particular, arose from the
practices of Jordan and Sise, who in the 1920s were among the first physicians
in the United States to specialize in these growing fields.
Gerald L. Zeitlin, MD, FRCA, of Newton, Mass., who has collected material on the early
Lahey anesthesiologists, recalls articles about anesthesiology at Lahey
appearing in journals in the 1920s. “I am absolutely sure there were no other
surgeons, at least as distinguished at Frank H. Lahey became, who would go into
print and state the importance of good anesthesia toward successful surgery,”
he said.
Lahey Clinic of Today
By the early 1970s, Lahey Clinic had expanded into offices at 143 Bay State Road and
565 Commonwealth Ave. It soon became evident that the Clinic would operate more
smoothly if all the specialties were under one roof.
Dr. Lahey was quoted as saying: “I have often been asked how the Clinic was started
and how its growth was promoted. I have always answered that I really do not
know. It started with a few men and women, and has literally grown up about my
ears and continues to grow.”
In 1971, Spectrum made the long-awaited
announcement: “Over 2,000 Burlington voters, the largest number ever to attend
a regular or special meeting in the town,” overwhelmingly voted in favor of the
construction of Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington.
Nearly 719,000 outpatients and 18,000 inpatients were treated at Lahey Clinic Medical
Center last year—the highest number in the history of the Clinic. Nine of its
departments were recognized in U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Hospitals” issue, and 48 Lahey
physicians were ranked “tops” in their fields by Boston Magazine.
Today, the Future of Medicine Initiative is underway at Lahey Clinic to
protect patients of the future. The expansion of Lahey Clinic Medical Center over the next
six years will enhance patient care through the development of a new heart and vascular center,
a center for advanced surgical care, and a comprehensive cancer care center.
Dr. Lahey's dream—a group practice complete in every detail for the care and cure
of the sick—has come to fruition.
Frank Lahey, MD
Frank Lahey, MD (1880-1953), held national influence in the medical profession, not
only as a world-renowned surgeon, but also as a distinctive teacher and medical
administrator.
His innovative group care model—in which medical
specialists cooperate to provide comprehensive patient care—was at first viewed
with skepticism. But Lahey held firmly to his belief that the best outcomes
were produced by teams of physicians who shared their expertise.
“Usually referred to as the outstanding general surgeon in
the world today, at times of crisis he was never known to lose either his head
or his nerve,” stated the Boston Globe
in 1953. “First and foremost he never allowed himself or his assistants to
forget they had a human life in their hands. Surely but for him, thousands
would not be alive today.”
Although he prided himself on being a general surgeon,
Lahey was well known for his expertise in thyroid and esophageal surgery, and
surgery for cancer of the stomach and bowel. The “two-stage surgery” that he
pioneered, in which surgery was completed in two steps over a period of two to
four days, greatly improved surgical outcomes. In fact, his method decreased
the mortality rate following thyroid surgery from 1-in-5 to 1-in-140.
Like his father—who was a granite cutter by trade and
eventually became a wealthy bridge contractor—Lahey built his career on humble
beginnings.
Lahey attended high school in his hometown of Haverhill,
Mass., where he had his own paper route and worked at his father's firm. He
then went on to attend Harvard Medical School, where he received a medical
degree in 1904. After he served as intern and house surgeon at Long Island
Hospital (1904-1905) and as a surgeon at Boston City Hospital (1905-1907),
Lahey became resident surgeon of the Haymarket Relief Station (1908). He was on
the surgical faculty of Harvard Medical School (1908-1909 and 1912-1915), and
served as professor of surgery at Tufts Medical School (1913-1917).
Because of his strong educational influence, Lahey is
often regarded as one of America's greatest teachers of surgery.
Gastroenterologist Sara Jordan, MD, one of the first to join Lahey's practice,
published an article in the 1953 New
England Journal of Medicine that noted: “His skill [brought] hundreds of surgeons
from all parts of the world to see him operate and to share with him the
knowledge and experience he was always ready to pass on to others.”
During World War I, Lahey served as a major in the Army
Medical Corps and director of surgery at Evacuation Hospital No. 30. After his
return from military service, he opened a small practice on Beacon Street in
Boston that was founded in 1923 as “Lahey Clinic.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Lahey to serve
on a special commission to report on medical standards during World War II. It
was this, and his extensive experience as a military surgeon, that strengthened
Lahey's belief that anesthesia had created a new kind of surgery, which was
best performed and refined by teams of surgical specialists.
Lahey held many influential leadership positions,
including president of the American Medical Society, New England Surgical
Society, American Surgical Society, and International Society of Surgeons. He
also operated on many notables in his lifetime, including President Anastasio
Somoza of Nicaragua and British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden.
In 1946, Lahey was awarded the Henry Jacob Biglow Medal of
the Boston Surgical Society in recognition of his surgical achievements.
The life of Frank Lahey is best summed up by a speech that
now resides in the United States Congressional Record. When the House of
Representatives met shortly after his death on June 27, 1953, a memorial speech
was delivered in his honor and concludes: “The medical profession has lost one
of its greatest members. Massachusetts has lost a citizen who accepted with
enthusiasm the broader responsibilities of his profession. The world has lost a
man who was unequaled in his services to mankind.”
