Paul FICAT1917–1986

were young in creating the British volume of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery than his series of contributions on disorders of bone growth?

This had been a life study and a life collection, over which he chuckled happily for so many years after his deafness commanded retirement from active practice, which was then published as a classic with the modest title: Atlas of General Affections of the Skeleton.

One other important contribution he made to surgery has for the moment been dimmed by reason of the development of chemotherapeutic antibiotic drugs. But most surely it will arise again and, just as he learned it from Arbuthnot Lane, we will again learn it from him because, sooner or later, we will know that the basic pro- tection of surgical cutting can never be antibiosis or antisepsis, but only asepsis. His operative tech- nique was superb, and only the angry young men of welfare states will say that the nontouch tech- nique as practiced by this grand old man is diffi- cult or impossible or unnecessary.

from the French Government. Six months of this time was spent in Baltimore on the service of Pro- fessor Blalock at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

After his return to Toulouse in 1948, Ficat turned his attention to orthopedics, becoming the equivalent of associate professor in 1958, profes- sor in 1962, and professor and chairman in 1970.

He was a native of the Toulouse region, and he spent his entire professional career in the medical school there.

Halsted, the renowned American general surgeon, wrote that the operating room is the laboratory of the highest order. Paul Ficat made this his life’s work, resolving clinical problems through critical intraoperative observations, never missing an opportunity to make a measurement or take a biopsy specimen for later evaluation. Phy- siologists, anatomists, and histologists were fre- quent “accessories” to the operating room team.

The product of this labor was prodigious, result- ing in more than 300 scientific publications, 12 books, and innumerable chapters.

The quality of his work has been recognized by his peers and by the awards that he received, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre Nationale du Merite in 1972 and the Prix Bouchard of the National Academy of Science in 1978. Moreover, his scientific works spanned a wide range of topics, from ligament instability to osteoarthrosis and from chondromalacia patellae to avascular necrosis of bone. To each area he brought not only the perception of the clinician but also the ability to see with the eyes of the physiologist, the micro- scopist, and even the electron microscopist. He was one of the few orthopedic clinicians with the ability to “see” problems at the cellular and sub- cellular level.

Above all, Paul Ficat was an educator. He was a valued teacher at congresses and universities around the globe. In the few years before his death, his work became better known in the English-speaking world through his publications in English and his presentations at meetings of the Hip Society, instructional and continuing educa- tion courses of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, meetings of the Canadian Orthopedic Society, and many universities with English-speaking students.

Paul Ficat was a giant in orthopedics. He was also a devoted family man, whose four children, two sons and two daughters, have all followed him into medicine: the sons into orthopedics.

Professor Paul Ficat died on January 26, 1986 at the age of 68 years. At the time of his death he

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

Paul FICAT

1917–1986

Professor Paul Ficat started his medical career

during World War II. For his voluntary participa-

tion in the war, he received the Croix de Guerre

with one bronze star, as well as the Medal of the

Resistance. After the war he completed his thesis

for the title of Doctor of Medicine, subsequently

spending 1 year in the United States from 1947 to

1948, made possible by a Cultural Relation Grant

was Professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France.

culosis. While there, he developed great interest in tuberculosis of the musculoskeletal system and coauthored several papers on its operative and chemotherapeutic treatment with Dr. Cleveland and Dr. Bosworth.

After completing his residency at St. Luke’s, Bill was invited to join the practice of Dr.

Bosworth, who had a great influence on his career in orthopedic surgery. Bill served as an American–British Canadian (ABC) Exchange Fellow in 1957 and, later, as Professor of Orthopedics at Columbia University.

Bill had a special interest in photography and was introduced to a new technique, cineradiogra- phy, by a medical photographer in New York. He was fascinated by the ability to make an “x-ray movie” of the motion of various areas of the skeletal system and chose the cervical spine as the subject for a cineradiographic exhibit, which he presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 1959. This not only introduced orthopedic surgeons to the new radiographic technique, but also enhanced Bill’s interest in the cervical spine. He later devoted much of his career to the cervical spine and wrote a number of classic articles on the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the first and second cervical vertebrae. He was a founding member and president of the Cervical Spine Research Society and was recognized throughout the world as one of the few experts on this subject.

Bill was a tireless worker for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and served on 13 committees, including the Scientific Program Committee, of which he was chairman in 1976.

He became president of the Academy in 1983 and continued to serve as a member of the board of directors from 1984 to 1990.

He held memberships in 34 orthopedic ass- ociations and societies, both national and international, including the American Orthopedic Association, the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, the Canadian Orthopedic Association, and the American College of Surgeons. He received the Kappa Delta award in 1963 and the Nicholas Andry award for special scientific con- tributions in 1975.

After a tenure as Orthopedic Director of the Polyclinic Hospital in Manhattan and the House of St. Giles (a children’s orthopedic hospital) in Brooklyn, Bill succeeded Dr. Frederick R. Thompson as Director of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital in 1973. He became director of a combined ortho-

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

Joseph William FIELDING

1923–1998

Joseph William Fielding was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on February 17, 1923. After completing his undergraduate education, he entered the Toronto School of Medicine in 1941 and graduated in 1946. While in medical school, he served in the reserves in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force. An excellent student and athlete, he par- ticipated in several sports, including football, track, soccer, and water polo. After completing a rotating internship at the Vancouver General Hos- pital in Vancouver, British Columbia, he contin- ued his postgraduate education with residencies in pathology at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City in 1947 and at Montreal General Hospital in 1948. He completed a general surgical internship at Shaunessey Hospital in Vancouver in 1949 and then returned to St. Luke’s Hospital to begin his orthopedic training.

Under the tutelage of Dr. Mather Cleveland, Dr. David M. Bosworth, and Dr. Frederick R.

Thompson, Bill was exposed to many areas of

orthopedics, with particular emphasis on the spine

and the hip. He spent 1 year of his orthopedic

residency at the Seaview Hospital in Staten

Island, a major center for the treatment of tuber-