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MedChi & The National Anthem

Most people don't know that September 14 is a special day in American History: It was the day in 1814 that the British bombed Baltimore for 25 hours, but the city stood, and so did the nation. It was also the day that our country’s National Anthem was written.

Most people also don't know that one of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty’s founding members had an essential role in it. William Beanes, M.D. is a name that should be more well-known than it is, but we are working to correct that and give him the recognition that he deserves.

Here is the story. 

The Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland was founded in 1799, just years after our country was born. Many of MedChi’s early members had fought in the American Revolution, and were prepared to fight again in the War of 1812, and in the Battles of North Point and Baltimore, which took place in September of 1814.

Fort McHenry, which was defended during the Battle of Baltimore, was named after another of MedChi’s earliest members, James McHenry. However, it is one of our founding members, William Beanes, M.D. of Prince George’s County, Maryland, who played a pivotal, yet largely unknown, role in the history of our National Anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

If not for Dr. Beanes, Francis Scott Key would not have been on a ship in Baltimore’s Harbor, and he would never have written the poem which became our National Anthem.

William Beanes was born at Brooke Ridge, a thousand-acre farm near Croome in Prince George's County, on January 24, 1749.

There were no medical schools when Dr. Beanes studied medicine, so he most likely apprenticed with a local physician. Professionally, his reputation spread beyond the county, and in 1799, when the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland was established, he was one of its founders and a member of its first examining board.

As the War of 1812 raged, in August of 1814, the British Army sailed up the Potomac River, planning to burn the young nation’s capital, Washington, to the ground. Some of the army marched up the banks of the Patuxent and Potomac Rivers, and through Upper Marlborough, where Dr. Beanes lived.

British General Ross selected Dr. Beanes’ home as his headquarters, and Dr. Beanes agreed not to object to his presence or cause the troops harm. Because Beanes chose not to fight against the occupation of his home, he was believed to be sympathetic to the British cause. Unbeknownst to the British, however, because it was feared that the British would burn the capital city of Annapolis, Dr. Beanes had secretly hidden Maryland state records on his property for safekeeping.

However, when the British Army returned to Upper Marlborough after burning Washington, they were jubilant, drunk and marauding. Dr. Beanes and some of his neighbors were forced to arrest some of the most badly behaved of the group. One prisoner escaped and reported to General Ross that Dr. Beanes had taken some prisoners.

General Ross returned to Upper Marlborough and arrested Dr. Beanes in the middle of the night. There was great outrage at Dr. Beanes’ arrest, and for the “great rudeness and indignity heaped upon a respectable and aged old man.” Dr. Beanes travelled with the British Army down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay, as the British prepared to burn Baltimore, “a nest of pirates”, as they had done to Washington.

At the same time, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key, a nephew of MedChi’s first President, Upton Scott, was engaged to free Dr. Beanes from the British Army. Key travelled to Baltimore with letters of support from President James Madison, as well as letters from British prisoners whose injuries Dr. Beanes had treated only weeks earlier in Upper Marlborough.

Dr. Beanes was being held on the Minden, a truce ship in the waters just south of Baltimore, and Key sailed out to the Minden to negotiate for his release. While Key was negotiating with the British, the Battle of Baltimore was beginning. For more than 25 hours the battle raged, and bombs rained down on Fort McHenry from the British ships moored in the Patapsco River.

Dr. Beanes and Francis Scott Key watched and waited all through the night. As long as bombs were being shot back from the Fort, the men knew that all was not lost and the Fort still stood. Towards the morning, the cannon fire slowed and then stopped, followed by an ominous silence from across the water. Both men were gripped by hope and fear. Was the Fort lost to the British and would Baltimore suffer as Washington had, just weeks earlier?

As the dawn broke, Francis Scott Key and Dr. Beanes were able to see that the flag was still there, flying above Fort McHenry. They knew that the British had not been able to capture Baltimore.

As the men sailed back to Baltimore, Francis Scott Key penned the now famous poem on the back of an envelope. It was printed in a local paper and then set to the tune of an old drinking song, To Anacreon In Heaven.

Dr. Beanes returned to his home, Academy Hill in Upper Marlborough, and continued to practice medicine. He died at age 80 in October of 1828. Dr. Beanes is buried in a small graveyard in Upper Marlborough, and is remembered throughout Prince George’s county where several roads, schools and parks bear his name, and continue to tell his story.

In 1914, MedChi placed a bronze plaque at the gates to the graveyard. In October 2013, MedChi President, Russell Wright, MD, participated in a ceremony at the gravesite where the Daughters of the War of 1812 placed a new plaque detailing Dr. Beanes’ role in the Star-Spangled Banner.

Jonas Rappeport, MD

We were saddened to hear of the death of our long-time member, Jonas Rappeport, M.D. He lead a long and fascinating life, and was a member here at MedChi for an amazing 62 years!

His obituary appeared in the Baltimore Sun, and we're pleased to reprint it in full.

Dr. Jonas R. Rappeport, the retired chief medical officer of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City who also was a consultant in the George Wallace, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan attempted assassination cases, died Tuesday at the Broadmead Retirement Community in Cockeysville. He was 95 and lived in Park Heights and Bolton Hill.

A nationally known and esteemed forensic psychiatrist, he founded the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and was its first president. He trained numerous future forensic psychiatrists as a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

At the time of his 1992 retirement, he had evaluated scores of criminal defendants and testified in many cases in Maryland and across the nation. He was credited with lifting forensic psychiatry from the stature of a judicial sideshow to that of accepted medical specialty.

Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Abraham Rappeport, a real estate developer, and his wife, Edna. He was a 1942 graduate of Forest Park High School and entered the University of Maryland, College Park that fall. He was drafted in June 1943 and served in the Army in Europe. He was a 1952 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He interned at Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital, where he met his future wife, Joan Gruenwald, the chief psychiatric nurse.

According to a biographical profile In the Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Dr. Rappeport grew up with medical mentors. As a 15-year-old, he babysat for Manfred Guttmacher, a noted forensic psychiatrist and chief medical officer at the Court Clinic for Baltimore City’s Supreme Bench. “He recalled leafing through Dr. Guttmacher’s medical library while babysitting, including a copy of Krafft‐Ebings' ‘Psychopathia Sexualis,’” said Dr. Jeffrey K. Janofsky, co-author of the biography.

Dr. Rappeport became interested in forensic psychiatry when he conducted research on inpatient psychiatric patient violence, after a patient assaulted a staff member.

He did a residency in psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical School and the Sheppard Pratt Hospital, and was asked to testify at civil commitment hearings and worked with psychoanalyst Dr. Samuel Novey, evaluating juveniles for the Baltimore County Circuit Court.

“My father was a force to be reckoned with. He had a strong mind and he was serious about everything he embraced,” Ms. Rappeport, of Baltimore. “He was curious about people and was interested in why people did what they did. He was also a man who treated people with great dignity.”

Dr. Rappeport joined the staff at Maryland’s Spring Grove State Hospital, which houses the state’s forensic psychiatry unit. “He recalled that the forensic unit was a primitive place by today’s standards, with literally a hole in the floor in which violent patients were housed,” Dr. Janofsky said.

In 1959, Dr. Rappeport also opened a general private practice in clinical psychiatry in the Latrobe building in Mount Vernon. He also became the psychiatrist for the Baltimore County Circuit Court, then a part-time position. Dr. Rappeport then established the office of court psychiatrist for Baltimore County.

In 1967 Judge Dulaney Foster named Dr. Rappeport the chief medical officer for the Supreme Bench in Baltimore City. In this role, he interviewed people who came before what is now the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. He retired in 1992.

In 1969 he became the first president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. His advice was sought when Arthur Bremer shot Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace in a Laurel shopping center parking lot in 1972. He was also called upon to study the case of Sara Jane Moore, who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in San Francisco three years later.

Dr. Rappeport was one of a team of forensic psychiatrists who worked the aftermath of an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

He interviewed John W. Hinckley Jr., who dangerously wounded Reagan at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue. Dr. Rappeport spent much of the year preparing to go to trial as an expert witness in the case against the assassin, though he was not ultimately called by a federal prosecutor to testify.

“Jonas and I interviewed Hinckley at the Butner Federal Detention Center in North Carolina,” said Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist who was trained by Dr. Rappeport at Johns Hopkins. “We also traveled to Colorado to interview Hinckley’s parents and to see the family home. We went to a gun store where he bought arms. We also went to the crime scene at the Hilton Hotel.”

A 1992 Sun article said, “Not testifying in that trial was perhaps the biggest disappointment in a celebrated 40-year career in forensic psychiatry that begins to wind down.” The article described Dr. Rappeport as “a small man with square, large-framed glasses that dominate his oval face [with] an unexpectedly booming voice.”

Dr. Dietz, who came to Baltimore and Johns Hopkins, said: “Jonas was perhaps the most generous and kind person I’ve ever encountered. As a medical student, he invited me to his home, to meet his family and to go fishing. ... He also had the ability to tell you when you were wrong and he disagreed with you without giving offense.”

A daughter, Sally Rappeport of Philmont, New York, said: “My father was an enthusiast for life. Whatever he did, he would delve in deeply. He loved good food and restaurants and wine. As a teenager I once complained we were eating too many frozen vegetables. The next summer, my father, a great gardener, quadrupled the vegetable output from his garden.”

Another daughter, Susan Bleiberg of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, said: “My father was a true Renaissance man. He was an intellectual and was down to earth. He found a way to connect with everyone. He was a great father and loved his family.”

In addition to his three daughters, he is survived by four grandchildren and a companion, Alma Smith. His wife of 54 years, Joan Rappeport, died in 2007.

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Another Find!

It never fails! I think that I've found all the artworks that are housed here in our buildings, then something else appears.

A few weeks ago, after about three inches of rain in a few hours, one of our roofs leaked. All of the ceiling tiles were sodden and then fell into the offices below. The carpets were soaked and everyone had to move out while drying and repairs were completed. 

Everything from the offices was brought out into Osler Hall and the Founders Hallway. As I was wandering around yesterday, I spotted an unfamiliar face peeking out from behind a pile of files. 

I have no idea who it is, and of course, it's not marked. It seems to be made of fired clay and then glazed, black basalt style. On the bottom, there's a piece of cardboard. 

Initially, I thought it was Ronald Fishbein, MD. But when I looked at photographs of him, I realized that it wasn't. Of course, when I read things a little more closely, I saw it was repaired by Dr. Fishbein in 1998. My guy looks to be late 1800's or early 1900's, given the facial hair and the style of clothing. 

If you have any clues, please let me know!

2020 Ethics Lecture ::: Lessons Learned: Ethical Dilemmas Faced During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Please join the Center for a Healthy Maryland and the
MedChi Committee on Ethics & Judicial Affairs for our Annual Ethics Lecture:

LESSONS LEARNED:
Ethical Dilemmas Faced During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. via Webinar

Please register here. You will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar and we will send you a reminder email a day before the webinar. For more information, please email here. Reservations are free, but they are required.
If you would like to submit questions for the panel prior to the event, please send them here. 

CME INFORMATION

Objectives:

• Understanding what are physicians’ ethical obligations to work in unsafe conditions.
• Describe physicians’ responsibility to report unsafe conditions in nursing homes.
• With respect to extremely sick individuals, describe when triage principles are ethical and when are they not.
• Determine which new resources will provide the needed support during a crisis such as COVID-19.   

Accreditation Statement: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society and The Center for a Healthy Maryland. MedChi is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Designation Statement: MedChi designates this live web-based educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.      

Early Women Members

I was working on a project where someone asked me who was the earliest female member of the Faculty. I didn't immediately know, so went to hunt up the answer. And in honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I thought today was the perfect day to post it. 

In 1882, the Faculty changed the by-laws to to read "members" instead of "gentlemen." At that time, women and African Americans were attending medical school and wanted to join their fellow physicians at the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. 

Women were admitted to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine right from the beginning, because women had come up with the funding that was needed for the school to open, and that was the condition of the gift. University of Maryland didn't admit women until 1919, which was surprising to me. However, in 1882, the Women's Medical College opened in Baltimore and continued to operate until about 1910. 

When I went through the Medical Annals of Maryland (1799-1899), I searched for some keywords to try and find the women members. Luckily, the Annals is on-line and digital, otherwise, it would be impossible to do a search, as there are 340 pages of biographies of physicians!

I have come up with a list of 13 female physicians who were members of the Faculty between 1880 and 1899, when the book was published. Here is a list of the women, and the years they became members of the Faculty. (Click on the name to read a brief biography.)

Amanda Taylor Norris  1886*

Anna Louise Kuhn  1889**

Alice Hall-Chapman  1890

Isabella Godfrey  1890

Laura Ewing Reading  1890

Mary Sherwood  1892

Claribel Cone  1894

Flora Pollack  1894

Edith Eareckson  1895

Lillian Welsh  1895

Adeline Elwell Portman  1896

Louise Erich  1897

Louise Holmes  1898

*Amanda Taylor Norris was the first women physician in Baltimore who had a degree from a regular college. 

**Anna Louise Kuhn was the first woman to graduate with a degree in medicine in Baltimore.

The Woman's Medical College in Baltimore

THE WOMEN’S MEDICAL COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE
By Emily Emerson Lantz
Originally printed in the Evening Sun, May 13, 1918

Visitors to Baltimore from the North are wont to make smiling reference to what they term the “leisurely Southern atmosphere” of this city. Chased by motor vehicle, bewildered by staggered skip-stops of trolley cars, and encouraged to “step lively” by irate conductors, Baltimoreans themselves are rather laboring under the impression that they are “going some”, not to say being rushed to death on a cyclonic whirlwind of haste.

But admitting a certain tranquility of character inherited from placid Maryland ancestors, a certain outward seeming of deliberate movement on the part of citizens, Baltimore, like the tortoise in Aesop’s fable, has always had a way of getting there, and what is more, of reaching the goal somewhat ahead of the other competitors.

Perhaps it is because Baltimore, as a community, is inclined to give courteous and sympathetic hearing to propositions, and to listen to a cause is often to espouse it.

Take for example the matter of affording medical instruction to women! Thirty-six years ago, when most medical colleges were firmly opposed to admitting women students to their clinics, Baltimore was establishing a first-class medical college for the instruction of women. If local medical schools refused to open their doors to women students, well and good; that was their privilege; but –- then establish a medical college for women.

It was in line with the old idea cherished by Southern men that what a woman wants, that she must be given, and that intellectually woman is the equal of man.

And so, the Woman’s Medical College of Baltimore came into being. The Women did not have to found it; two well-known physicians, Dr. Randolph Winslow and Dr. Thomas A. Ashby, were its originators and promoters.

It seems these two medical men were one day standing upon a street corner discussing matters pertaining to their profession, when Dr. Winslow said, “Let us start a medical school for women.” His colleague expressed surprise, but not disapproval at the suggestion, and while they were talking, a third member of the profession, Dr. B.B. Browne, joined the group and became interested in the project.

A fourth physician, Dr. Eugene F. Cordell, was consulted, with the result that in 1882, the Woman’s Medical College of Baltimore was established with these four broad-minded medical men as founders and instructors.

The charter was obtained February 24, 1882, additional incorporators being Drs. William D. Booker, Herbert Harlan and Robert B. Morrison. The college opened in 1882, those contributing to its first course of lectures being Drs. Winslow, Browne, Ashby, Cordell, Booker, John S. Lynch, Richard H. Thomas and John G. Jay.

It was the ambition of the founders to provide a medical college of high standard, and to this end, they imposed a preliminary examination upon all applicants for admission as students who could not show adequate evidence by certificate or diploma of satisfactory attainment. This was a distinct innovation.

Also, the school began with a session of seven months, and there was a graded course and written examinations at the close of the year. A general hospital and dispensary were founded in connection with the college, and laboratory work was early introduced as a prominent feature.

Microscopes were imported and competent instructors were appointed to teach their use. Careful attention was paid to hygiene, pharmacy and medical jurisprudence. In 1884, the college adopted a three-year course of study, and in 1885, with the University of Maryland and the College of Physicians, its trustees adopted a four-year course of study, although the American Medical College Association did not make that step mandatory until a year later. Also, shortly after, the term was lengthened to eight months.

In 1897, a thoroughly equipped bacteriological laboratory was established for the practical study of a then-new and growing science and instruction was introduced in orthopedica, psychiatry and embryology. Every endeavor was made to give thorough training in laboratories and clinics and, to honor the college, it is said that no women graduated by the Woman’s Medical College ever failed on a State medical examination.

For clinics, students had the college hospital, known as the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, the college maternité, while other local hospitals were available through the connection of members of the faculty with them. Always, the school had the advantage of find instructors, such names as Brush, Murdock, Woods, Harlan, Preston, Mitchell, Hynson, Trimble, Lord, Gilchirst, Claribel Cone, Flora Pollack, Taylor, Buckler, Hunner and others being found in old catalogues.

Dr. John R. Abercrombie was dean of the faculty when the college graduated its final class after 28 years of existence, and at that time, Dr. Guy L. Hunner, President of the college, said it had graduated 116 women, 30 of whom had married, most of them marrying physicians, and 90% were in active practice.

Other members of the faculty whose names are well-known in the Baltimore area were Drs. H. Warren Buckler; J.H. Mason Knox, Jr.; Maurice Lazenby; Henry Lee Smith; Charles W. Larned; S. Griffith Davis; John Staige Davis; Charles H. Riley; George A. Fleming; Charles M. Franklin; W. Milton Lewis; R. Tunstall Taylor; H.C. Davis; H.H. Hazen; Mary A. Waters; Mary N. Browne; Mary P. Voeglein; Bertha Berger; Henrietta M. Thomas; Mary Cook Willis, and Amanda T. Norris.

The closing of the Woman’s Medical College in 1910 was chiefly due to the fact that it was insufficiently endowed to meet the requirements of the American Medical Association, for whose existence it was partly responsible. By the joint action of six medical colleges – The University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins, the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Baltimore Medical College, Baltimore University and the Woman’s Medical College – the American Medical Association was organized, and one of the requirements was that during their first two years students should be instructed only by paid professors. This the Woman’s Medical College could not afford, nor could it afford the expense of the increasingly elaborate laboratory apparatus essential to maintain the high and progressive standard of work in which its faculty took deserved pride.

Also, the imperative need of an exclusively feminine medical college was decreasing. Because of the endowment of Miss Mary Garrett, Johns Hopkins Medical School opened its doors to women. The Atlantic College (homeopathic, but no longer existent) also received women as students. Today [1918] the University of Maryland Medical School admits men ad women alike to its educational opportunities.

But in the lives and work of its graduates, the Woman’s Medical College of Baltimore lives on. They came to the college from Russia, from Korea, from Puerto Rico, very many of them from New York State, and all over the world they are scattered – intelligent, progressive, well-trained, well-equipped women, lending their skilled hands and efficient mentality to the world’s work.

They are the women, who by their pioneer spirit, their initiative in entering a profession for which they have proved their eminent fitness, have made the hard road of medical life easier to women coming after them. Collectively and individually, they have been an honor to their alma mater.

The first graduate of the college was Dr. Mary Rogers Owens, who went to Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Emily White is a leading surgeon in India. Dr. Annie Houston-Patterson became a medical missionary to China and died there. Dr. Esther Pak, a Korean student, returned to her native country to follow her profession. Two daughters of the West Indies, Senoritas Elisa Rivera and Anita Janer, of the island of Puerto Rico, received their medical training at the Women’s Medical College, and returned to their tropical home to become the first women physicians the island has known. They are still practicing their profession in Puerto Rico.

The personnel of the graduating class of 1910, the last to received diplomas from the college, indicates how far the fame of this modest Baltimore medical school has spread. The graduates were:

          Eugenia Cohen                        Baku, The Caucasus, Asiatic Russia

          Rose Cecelia Faughmen            Newark, New Jersey

          Florence C. Fuller                       Rolfe, Iowa

          Monserrato Palmira Gatell       Puerto Rico

          Elizabeth A. Keay                       Maine

          Olga Valeria Pruitt                     Anderson, South Carolina

Dr. Gatell, the Puerto Rican, was awarded the faculty prize of a gold medal for the highest scholarship average during her four years of study. Dr. Fuller was awarded the honor of an appointment as resident physician in the West Philadelphia Hospital for Women. Drs. Pruitt and Faughman carried off the honor of becoming interns at the Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia.

Dr. Charlotte Murdock-Young, daughter of the eminent Baltimore oculist, engaged for a time in parish work in London, and now has a medical mission in China. Dr. Henrietta M. Thomas has been working in England with the Belgian refugees. Dr. Bertha Berger is in full charge of the women’s department of the Virginia State Asylum for the Insane at Staunton. 

Drs. Mary P. Voeglein and Mary A. Waters hold city positions under the Board of the Police Commissioners for medical examining. Dr. Mary Cook Willis is associated with the city’s charities in official medical capacity. Dr. Anna Abercrombie is in charge of the Child Labor Bureau for the city. Dr. Sue Radcliffe is a prominent physician in Yonkers, NY and treasurer of the War Service Committee for the Medical Women’s National Association.

Dr. Fannie E. Hoopes, physician and dentist, is a graduate of both the Woman’s Medical College of Baltimore, and the Pennsylvania Dental College. She was the first woman to matriculate in the dental department of Harvard University, where she took a post-graduate course. One of the most successful professional women of Baltimore, she has yet found time for club and social life and made a leisurely trip around the world just before Germany declared war. Because of the war, the ocean liner upon which she sailed was withdrawn from regular service at the conclusion of the voyage.

Dr. Flora Pollack, general practitioner, and Dr. Claribel Cone, pathologist, are both graduates of the Woman’s Medical College and later, both conducted clinics there. Also, both were, for a time, associated with Blockley Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Pollack, after service at Blockley, became the assistant in the genito-urinary department of the dispensary of Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also studied abroad for a short time, and has done valuable municipal work in relation to the moral protection of children. At present, in addition to professional duties, she is patriotically doing her but by lectures to young girls designed to teach them to honor their country and the high cause which American men are fighting by maintaining the highest moral ideals for their own sex.

Dr. Claribel Cone is a brilliant women who was a trustee of the Woman’s Medical College and also occupied the chair of pathology. She took a post-graduate course at Johns Hopkins, where she devoted herself to scientific investigation. She has continued laboratory work in foreign countries, and spent some years under pathologists Wiegert and Albrecht at the Senckenberg Institute in Frankfort, Germany. She has visited laboratories of Japan and being abroad when was began in Europe, has continued on the Continent. Dr. Cone is a scientist who is interested in music, painting and sculpture; a writer of distinction; a woman endowed with social graces and possessed of a peculiarly lovable personality.

Certainly, the fine work of its staff and graduates more than justifies the brilliant, if brief existence of the Woman’s Medical College of Baltimore in our midst. It was given the city when the city had need of it and the same wisdom that established and developed the school realized when the use for a medical school exclusively designed for women students had passed.