Paul B. Magnuson

Recurrent Dislocation of the Shoulder

Although the name Magnuson remains imbedded in the eponymic memory of orthopedics attached to an almost forgotten operation for the treatment of recurrent dislocation of the shoulder, few if any surgeons or physicians of today are aware of his enormous influence on their medical education. Paul B. Magnuson ( 188441 968: Fig. 1) was born in a suburb ofs t . Paul, attended thc University of Minnesota, and graduated from the College of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania in 1908. During his undergraduate years at Pennsylvania, he developed a method of lengthening the femur in dogs that was later applied successfully to the treatment of patients with leg-length discrepancies. After graduating from medical school, he moved to Chicago where he was associated with the famous and flamboyant surgeon, J . B. Murphy. His practice consisted largely of the treatment of in.juries among the packing house and railway workers and, because of his interest in occupational injuries, was appointed the first director of the Industrial Coinmission of the State of Illinois in I9 16. During World War 1. he was stationed in Washington, D.C. as an assistant to Elliott Brackett. Chief of the Orthopaedic Division in the Surgeon General’s Office. Through these two experiences, he gained a thorough knowledge of the administrative aspects of medical planning. His clinical practice was carried in association with Northwestern Medical College where he hecame a Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Bone and Joint Surgery. He was a founder of the American Board of Surgery, served as a Regent of the American College of Surgeons. and was a member of the American Surgical Association. He was president of the American Association for the Surgery ofTrauma in 1949. He was a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. and a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Orthopaedic Association. During World War 11, Dr. Magnuson served as a consultant to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. At the end of the war, he was asked to remain in Washington, D.C. and take on the task of reorganiiing the Medical Department of the Veterans Administration. He was responsible for developing the program that closely tied the Veterans Administration Hospital system to medical schools, and, through the “Dean’s Committees,” helped to recruit faculty members onto the staffs of the hospitals. This promoted the expansion of residency programs into the Veterans Administration Hospitals and made their patients available for use in the teaching of medical students and residents. In addition to supporting teaching programs, the Veterans Administration also provided resources for medical research. During his tour as Chief Medical Director of the Veterans Administration from 1948 through 1951. he fought pitched battles with politicians and entrenched bureaucrates bureaucracies to build new veterans hospitals in close proximity to medical schools. The details of these battles to obtain the best medical care for the veterans is described in his autobiography “Ring t l i r N i g h Bdl,” published in 1960. During this period he served as co-chairman of the Skeletal Systems Committee of the National Research Council, where he promoted the care of amputees and research on prosthetic devices. In 1952. President Truman appointed him Chairman of the Commission on Health Needs of the Nation. This commission summarized their work in a five volume report. Upon returning to Chicago after over ten years of valuable work for the nation in Washington. D.C., Dr. Magnuson began organizational work to found the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago of which he was the first president. Paul B. Magnuson’s contribution to medical education was the institution of a program that allowed the resources of the Veterans Administration Hospital system to be made available to medical schools for teaching and research. There are few if any students or residents during the past 40 years who have not benefited from contact with this system.

Fracture of the os calcis

Abstract There has been a voluminous literature on fracture of the os calcis in the last ten years. The results of treatment of this injury have improved, but the results will never be perfect in the hands of anyone, or as a result of the use of any one method. It is a fracture in which a certain amount of bone has been destroyed. It is comminuted in cancellous bone, and the major fragment is attached to a tendon controlled by two of the strongest muscles of the body. The bone must bear weight and be subject to the trauma of weight-bearing. To restore painless function implies perfect mechanical restoration of bone, which frequently is impossible; it also implies a freedom of motion between the os calcis and the astragalus which is practically always limited, regardless of the methods used in reduction and maintenance of reduction. Therefore, ideal results are almost impossible to attain. The future will present better results, however, if careful analysis of each case is made, and if the choice of treatment or combination of treatment is suited to and suitable for the individual case.