Personal Data
Current
Mailing Address
J.
Thomas Hutton, M.D., Ph.D. (Tom)
Medicine
Spirit Ranch
E-mail
Address: jthomas_hutton@yahoo.com
Present
Activity Status and Community Activities:
I
have retired from the clinical practice of medicine but continue with
occasional medical missionary work and consulting.
Much
of my time now is spent in volunteer efforts that include Board of Trustees for
the Hill Country Memorial Health System, Board of the Wellness Center, Advisory
Board to Gillespie County Health Department, Elder at Memorial Presbyterian
Church, Consultant to Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, Reviewer for
National Parkinson’s Foundation Centers of Excellence Grants, Advisory Board
for Economic Development for Fredericksburg/Gillespie County, graduate Gillespie
County Leadership Training Program, and volunteer for many of the frequent
festivals in Fredericksburg.
Family
Status:
I
have been married to Trudy since 1969, and we have two wonderful children- John
Andrew Hutton (attorney in
Professional Experience
What
path has your career taken since your residency? Include military
service, private practice, academic career, teaching and research
accomplishments.
In
1974-1975 I took a year hiatus from the residency program in order to
participate in the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Health Exchange
program. I trained with the eminent Soviet Neurologist and
Neuropsychologist Alexander Romanovich Luria at the Burdenko
Neurosurgical Institute of the
Following
completion of my residency and fellowship, I joined the faculty of the
In
December of 1980 I joined the Department of Medical and Surgical Neurology at
the
In
1990 I entered the private sector and established Neurology Associates of
Lubbock and the Neurology Research and
My
most active professional affiliation has been with the Texas Neurological
Society. I served in a variety of capacities including President of this
the most active and largest of the State Neurology Associations. At T.N.S. I established a
newsletter called “Broca’s Area” and edited it for
eight years. In addition I became a fellow of the
My
scholarly writings include over 100 articles and chapters, and six edited books
for both scientific and caregiver audiences. The majority of these
articles are on Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or higher cortical
functions. I am flattered to have served as visiting professor to a large
number of institutions including
My
greatest professional affirmation has always derived from having been a
physician for countless patients who entrusted me with their care. My
self-confidence in clinical skills came from the knowledge that I had trained
in the finest clinical Neurology program that had existed at the time.
None
of these modest professional accomplishments could have been possible without
the outstanding example and training provided to me by the faculty of the
Department of Neurology of the
Residency Recollections
We
are interested in anecdotes and experiences from your residency years.
Include interactions among fellow residents and teaching staff.
While
Saturday morning teaching rounds (often referred to as trauma sessions) with
Professor A. B. Baker spring to mind, this is much too obvious. Rather I
offer the experience of the “Midnight Meal”. At the end of a typically frenzied
workday, house officers gathered to eat the leftovers of the day’s meals.
Jerome Lowenstein authored an essay and book entitled “The Midnight Meal” and
described this sociological phenomenon. The midnight meal allowed house
officers a brief respite from their labors and a time to learn from other
residents farther along in their training. In addition to the meal,
we communicated insights, exchanged “curbside consults”, and advised one
another on the process of becoming fully trained practitioners.
I
recall the warm camaraderie shared during those late meals. Who can forget
hearing Dan Randa extol the incredible cultural and
geographic virtues of his native
In
addition to desultory boasting and satire, topics also included clinical
matters. Stemming from the interplay of differing clinical perspectives at the
table, these discussions often injected vividness and immediacy to the clinical
situation. To sit at the table with a consulting Cardiology resident, a
Pulmonary resident, and an Internal Medicine Resident and discuss the condition
of your patient with hemorrhagic stroke represented an incredible learning
experience. Their informal thoughts were far more meaningful than were
the stale chart consultations.
The
process of coming of age as a neurological resident also was hastened by
listening to humorous and sometimes sad anecdotes of others, usually shared
over leftover meat loaf. I remember the shocked realization of a
neurological colleague that side effects existed for pneumoencephalography
after having just performed his first on an attractive twenty-five year old
woman. I also remember sharing personal embarrassment for having
shelled out a much needed $20 to a man in the emergency room after he claimed
being near starvation, only later to find him lying in the gutter at
I
also fondly remember the conversations that wandered far from clinical
medicine. I remember Mark Nordyke wax
eloquently about the joy of flying, Mike Schaak
explaining the intricacies of dealing with Nurse Clipper, and Preston
Harrison’s advise on seating arrangements at Saturday
morning teaching rounds (avoid the first 10 seats clockwise to Dr.
Baker).
Additional Thoughts
Share
your thoughts regarding the changes in medicine since your residency. In
your opinion, is Neurology positioned well for the future?
Neurology
like other areas of medicine during the last thirty-five years has experienced
phenomenal technological achievements. Our current stellar imaging and
modern therapeutic modalities couldn’t have been imagined at the time of my
training. Back then we focused more on the “black box” of Dr. A.B. Baker and the importance that psychological influences
had on neurological symptoms. Now with computer searches and palm pilots,
current information is far more readily available than before. The
practice of medicine has become more sophisticated, and we must not lose such
great progress. However these wonderful technical successes also place our
profession at risk at becoming overly insular. A tendency exists for
current physicians to interact less with colleagues and more with machines or
the numbers they disgorge.
The
midnight meal provided social lubrication for the collective care of patients
by many physicians and specialties. I don’t know if this quaint custom
even still exists. If it does not, then other means are needed to provide
a human interface among physicians, so that our most personal and caring of
professions never veers into a numbers crunching, overly compartmentalized
group of disciplines.
Neurology
with its reliance on medical history and careful neurological examination
remains an anachronism in modern medicine. Who else but neurologists
still tote around little black bags? Who else but a neurologist spends
more time taking medical histories and performing examinations than reviewing
laboratory numbers? Neurologists must not avoid the newer technological
achievements. But perhaps by the anachronistic nature of our
discipline, Neurology has become a bridge from the present to the more
humanistic, interconnected physicians of the past. Such improved socialization
of medicine represents my fondest wish for medicine. Moreover I hope our
discipline that parenthetically McDonald Critchley
endearingly referred to as “The Divine Banquet of the Brain” and by which I was
seduced so many years ago, leads the way toward an improved interconnected
clinical effort from which patients will continue to benefit.