Free Amazing Medical Stories by George Burden Page A

Gold Medal Award.

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    Dr. William O’Loughlin, senior surgeon on the
Titanic.
ENCYCLOPEDIA TITANICA
    Dr. Simpson also lost his life in the sinking, and he, too, has gone down in the disaster’s history as a hero. Not only is he remembered as a very brave man but also as an Irishman who met death true to his heritage. Mary Sloan and another stewardess met him during the confusion that followed the collision with the iceberg. They both liked him because he had a marvellous sense of humour. This time there was nothing amusing about the situation, but Dr. Simpson, realizing the women were very frightened, led them to a nearby dispensary, where he poured each of them a glass of whiskey. When Mary asked him if he thought she would need the alcoholic beverage, he replied, “You might need it later on.” Hearing these words, the other stewardess began to weep. Mary, however, insisted that she was not afraid. Simpson’s response was to raise his glass and exclaim, “Spoken like a true Ulster woman!” His body, if it was recovered,was never identified, although one writer claims that Simpson’s medical bag was salvaged from the wreck.
    Charles H. Lightoller, the Second Officer on the
Titanic
, miraculously survived the sinking. During his appearance at a board of inquiry, he vividly recalled a brief encounter he had had with doctors O’Loughlin and Simpson. He reported that they obviously knew the score and were “still assisting by showing a calm and cool exterior to the passengers.” Each of them had come up to him to shake his hand and say goodbye.
    Survivors later reported that the conduct of the physicians on board had been exemplary, that they actively assisted passengers and had refused seats in the lifeboats. Only one of them will forever have shame associated with his name. He was Dr. Frauenthal, the noted orthopedic surgeon from New York. In a dramatic declaration of love for his wife, who had found a place in a lifeboat, he had screamed, “I cannot leave you.” Then, to the utter disgust of one of the crew members, he and his brother suddenly jumped into the vessel. Some say that Dr. Frauenthal was the bulky man who landed on a lady passenger, breaking two of her ribs. Ironically, fifteen years later, in 1927, Dr. Frauenthal committed suicide by jumping out of the seventh floor of his apartment building in New York. The medical examiner assigned to the case attributed his death to “a fall from a window due to mental derangement.”
    Even more bizarre were the terms of Frauenthal’s will. He ordered that he be cremated and his ashes stored in the Hospital for Joint Diseases that he had founded until the fiftieth anniversary of the hospital’s incorporation. On that day, he requested his ashes be scattered from the roof “to the four winds.” This was done on October 5, 1955.
    Dr. Alfred Pain, the youthful physician born in Hamilton, Ontario, had befriended a young Canadian woman he had met during the cruise. He made a point of finding her and encouraged her to hurry to find a place in a lifeboat. Later, learning of his death, she was heartbroken that she hadn’t taken the time to say goodbye. Tearfully, she explained that she had failed to do this because she believed the
Titanic
was “unsinkable” and that she would soon see him again.
    â€œBe brave. No matter what happens, be brave!” were Dr. William Mina-han’s last words to his wife as he helped her into lifeboat number four. The Wisconsin doctor’s body was identified by his personal effects, includinga clinical thermometer. When news of his death reached his colleagues, they had only positive things to say about him. “Dr. Minahan was an untiring student, a clever diagnostician, a kind physician and a wonderfully pleasing man socially.”
    Dr. Ernest Moraweck from Kentucky also perished. The young lady who had dined with him the evening before the sinking had