health that is painful to watch and more painful to endure. He was strong physically, and able intellectually to the close of his life.
produced the first high-quality color photographs of the interior of the knee joint.
Dr. O’Connor organized and directed many teaching courses on the subject of arthroscopy, the attendance at which was always capacity. His technical skill led to results that were difficult to match. His stamina, vitality, and capacity for work were hard to equal. He found time to write several papers, a monograph, and two books on arthroscopy.
Dr. O’Connor enjoyed classical music and stimulating conversation. His sense of humor was sharp and disarming. He was demanding in his work, but compassionate with his patients.
He demonstrated unusual courage, particularly during the difficult terminal period of his illness, and never gave up hope.
Richard L. O’Connor, a pioneer in the devel- opment of arthroscopic surgery, died on Novem- ber 29, 1980, in Bandon, Oregon, where he spent his last days, following a fight against cancer of the lung. His wife Caroline, whom he married in 1955, was at his side.
249
Who’s Who in Orthopedics
Richard L. O’CONNOR
1933–1980
Born in Chicago, Illinois, and educated at De Pauw University, Indiana, and Northwestern Medical School, Illinois, Dr. O’Connor began his medical career as a general practitioner in Telluride, Colorado. Later, returning to Louisville, Kentucky, he completed his orthope- dic training in 1968 under the supervision of Pro- fessor James Harkess, and settled in West Covina, California. His first special interest was in the field of hand surgery. This was soon superseded by a new interest. Dr. O’Connor traveled to Tokyo, Japan, where he studied the arthroscopic techniques of Dr. Masaki Watanabe, and returned to the United States with a Watanabe arthroscope.
Perceiving quickly the great potential of this instrument, he became its prime advocate in southern California. Overcoming the natural resistance to new techniques, he persisted in his attempts to teach other orthopedists its value as a diagnostic tool as well as its potential for intra- articular surgery. In the process he helped to develop the first operating arthroscope and became the first to employ the instrument in meniscal surgery. He also helped to develop inter- est in intra-articular photography, including movies, 35-millimeter slides, and videotapes. He
Hiram Winnett ORR
1877–1956
Hiram Winnett Orr (the Hiram was replaced by the enigmatic initial H as soon as he learned to sign his name) was born in West Newton, PA, where his father was a dentist. After graduating from the local high school at the age of 15 years, he entered the University of Nebraska. In Lincoln,
he lived with his maternal uncle, Dr. Hudson J.
Winnett, a busy general practitioner. He entered the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1895 and graduated 4 years later. He then spent some time in New York at the Bellevue Hospital before returning to Lincoln and joining his uncle’s practice. He became dissatisfied with his life as a general practitioner, and in 1904 went to Chicago where he fell under the spell of Dr. John Ridlon, the Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at North- western University. After spending a summer in Chicago working with Dr. Ridlon, Orr returned to Lincoln filled with enthusiasm for his new specialty.
He then joined a group of individuals already lobbying for a crippled children’s hospital. In 1905 the legislature provided funds to open the State Hospital for the Crippled and Deformed.
This was only the third state-supported hospital of its type in the United States. Orr was intimately associated with the work of this hospital, later called the Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital, for 50 years.
During World War I, Orr was a member of the Goldthwait Unit of Young American Orthopedic Surgeons assembled by Dr. Goldthwait, and was sent to England for training under the aegis of Sir Robert Jones in preparation for service to American forces in France. Later, Orr was in charge of a base hospital in Savenay, France, where he was responsible for the care of thou- sands of patients with open fractures. It was his exposure to Dr. Ridlon and Sir Robert Jones that gave Orr an appreciation of the work of Hugh Owen Thomas and his principle of rest, enforced, uninterrupted and prolonged, and it was his expe- rience with large numbers of open, contaminated fractures, that led him to develop his method of treatment. At the end of the war, Orr was dis- charged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was always very proud of his army service, and after his death he was buried in Arlington ceme- tery in Virginia. After his return to civilian life, Orr perfected his method and applied it to cases of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis and open fractures. He wrote and lectured to promote its use. During the Spanish Civil War, Trueta used with great success the Orr method, with some modification, in the treatment of open fractures.
The use of the Orr and Trueta method has been eclipsed by the introduction of antibiotics and the emphasis on delayed primary or early secondary closure of wounds, coupled with effective inter-
nal fixation. It remains, however, a viable option for treatment in less than optimal conditions.
As early as 1903, Orr was lecturing on the history of medicine at the University of Nebraska.
He pursued his interest in medical history for the rest of his life. He was a collector of rare medical books. He gave his collection of more than 2,600 items to the American College of Surgeons, and it is now on permanent loan to the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. A second collec- tion of books on Anne of Brittany and her era was given to the Love Library at the University of Nebraska.
Orr had extensive experience as an editor, including a short stint as editor of the progenitor of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and as an author of numerous papers and several books.
He was president of the American Orthopedic Association in 1936. Orr was a well-known figure in Lincoln, NE, where it was common knowledge among the children that if your parents took you to see Dr. Orr, he would put you in a cast.
250 Who’s Who in Orthopedics
Marino ORTOLANI
1904–1983
Very few non-orthopedic surgeons have con- tributed as much to the study of congenital hip pathology as Professor Marino Ortolani. He was born in 1904, studied medicine in Bologna, Italy, and became a pediatrician, opening his practice in
