Harold Arthur ThomasFAIRBANK

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

1932, president of the orthopedic section, and of the pediatric section of the Royal Society of Med- icine, in later years gaining the rare distinction of honorary fellowship. He was Robert Jones Lec- turer in the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1938, but even more was he inspired by the Lady Jones Lectureship in Liverpool in 1929.

It is through the allegiance of Fairbank to Liverpool and to Robert Jones that I first met him.

Then I did not know that he was one of a family of five whose father, a medical practitioner in Windsor, had died when he was young; that he was an Epsom boy who had qualified in the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School; had foregone his earlier destiny to dental surgery; had been a civil surgeon in the Boer War, meeting Lord Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Rudyard Kipling and Conan Doyle; in the First World War had driven mules and ambulances in Salonika—or was it Greece or Macedonia—I did not know. I knew only that he was the great leader of ortho- pedic surgery in London, consultant to King’s College Hospital where he had established the first fracture clinic in London, and to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Lord Mayor Treloar Orthopaedic Hospital at Alton.

What mattered to me was that he was the first external examiner for the Liverpool degree of MChOrth and that with Robert Jones he was examining me as one of the first three candidates.

Could I ever forget his grumpy kindness when, having asked me to do a Stöffels bilateral obtura- tor neurectomy by the abdominal approach, he assisted me with a retractor in one hand and a lighted match within the stiff cadaveric abdomi- nal walls with the other?

In later years, when I assisted him at Great Ormond Street, and his endeavor was concen- trated on trying to solve the problems of con- genital dislocation of the hip, could I ever forget the kind growl of his voice that was so tender to children that they knew at once that he could be trusted? In later years, when he had the heavy responsibility of directing the orthopedic organi- zation of the Emergency Medical Services of Great Britain in the Second World War, and I had to compete gently for another orthopedic service in the Royal Air Force, could there ever have been warmer or more courteous understanding? In days of peace did he not hold the greatest second- opinion private practice ever known by reason not only of his wisdom but also his integrity? And, as if we were not already bound as disciples, could he have given more stimulus to those of us who

Harold Arthur Thomas FAIRBANK

1876–1961

Sir Thomas Fairbank will be remembered as a leader of surgery in Great Britain who shared with Sir Robert Jones, his senior colleague and friend, the pioneering endeavors of the 1920s by which orthopedic surgery became recognized and estab- lished as one of the major parts of general surgery and medicine. He will be remembered also as Tom, or more affectionately as Uncle Tom, who again shared with Robert Jones the sterling qual- ities of integrity, sincerity and modesty, with courteous thoughtfulness for juniors such that they became inspired as disciples. Thus each of these leaders achieved the immortality of which we can be certain—the stimulating influence of one life upon the lives of others so that their own contributions to the welfare and happiness of mankind are multiplied and perpetuated.

Thomas Fairbank was a founder member of the

British Orthopedic Association in February 1918,

and when he died in February 1961 he shared the

surviving influence of our founders with only two

others, Rocyn Jones and Harry Platt. He was vice

president to Robert Jones throughout the 5 years

of that memorable leadership; then president him-

self in 1926–1927; and thereafter Emeritus Fel-

low, the first so to be honored. In 1929 he was a

founder member of the International Society of

Orthopedic and Traumatic Surgery, and later vice

president in Bologna and Rome. He was vice pres-

ident of the orthopedic section of the British

Medical Association at its centenary meeting in

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