George Washington "Barney" Crile Jr. (November 3, 1907 – September 11, 1992)
["George Crile Jr." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 26 July 2011.] was an American surgeon. He was a significant influence on how
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
is treated and was a visible and controversial advocate for alternative procedures.
Early life and education
Crile was the son of famous surgeon and founding partner of the
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...
,
George Washington Crile
George Washington Crile (November 11, 1864 – January 7, 1943) was an American surgeon. Crile is now formally recognized as the first surgeon to have succeeded in a direct blood transfusion. He contributed to other procedures, such as neck dis ...
. After attending the
University School
University School, commonly referred to as US, is an all-boys, private, Junior Kindergarten–12 school with two campus locations in the Greater Cleveland area of Ohio. The campus located in Shaker Heights serves junior kindergarten through eighth ...
and the
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is a coeducational University-preparatory school#North America, preparatory school in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States. Hotchkiss is a member of the Eight Schools Association and Ten Schools Admissions Organization. It i ...
,
Crile attended
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, where he was on the
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
track
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
teams and was a member of
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
.
He graduated in 1929.
He earned his
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
from
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
in 1933,
graduating ''
summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
''
and first in his class.
Medical career
After graduating Crile chose to
intern
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
at the
Barnes Hospital (1933–34) under surgeon
Evarts Ambrose Graham
Evarts Ambrose Graham (1883–1957) was an American academic, physician, and surgeon.
Early years and military service
Born in Chicago, Illinois to a surgeon, Dr. David Wilson Graham, and Ida Ansbach Barned Graham, Evarts attended college at Prin ...
, noted for successfully removing a lung from a cancer patient.
He spent the rest of his medical career at the Cleveland Clinic. After his
residency
Residency may refer to:
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place
** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship
* Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...
there (1934–1937), he joined the surgical staff in 1937, served as head of the general surgery department (1956–1969), senior consultant (1969–1972), and emeritus consultant (1972–1992).
During World War II, he served in the
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
(1942–46), stationed at naval hospitals in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
While in the Navy he researched on
ruptured appendixes and discovered that they were not as life-threatening as once believed. He therefore concluded that risky emergency
appendectomies on board
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s may harm the patient more than help,
and that the safer option was to employ
penicillin
Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...
until the patient could be evacuated to a superior hospital facility.
He also developed a procedure for
pilonidal cyst
Pilonidal disease is a type of skin infection which typically occurs as a cyst between the cheeks of the buttocks and often at the upper end. Symptoms may include pain, swelling, and redness. There may also be drainage of fluid, but rarely a fev ...
s, draining them with a
catheter
In medicine, a catheter (/ˈkæθətər/) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Cath ...
instead of the standard surgical excision.
He later said "I came home from World War II convinced that operations in many fields of surgery were either too radical, or not even necessary. Universal acceptance of a procedure does not necessarily make it right."
Crile turned his willingness to question orthodox procedures to
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
. The traditional treatment for breast cancer was a
radical mastectomy
Radical mastectomy is a surgical procedure involving the removal of breast, underlying chest muscle (including pectoralis major and pectoralis minor), and lymph nodes of the axilla as a treatment for breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most comm ...
, a procedure which removes the entire breast as well as surrounding muscle, tissue, and
lymph node
A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphocytes that inclu ...
s. Under the influence of Scottish surgeon
Reginald Murley
Sir Reginald Sydney Murley (2 August 1916 – 2 October 1997) was a British surgeon who was President of the Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate ...
as well as one of his colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic, he instead began to advocate procedures that removed much less material,
a
simple mastectomy, which only removes the breast, and a
lumpectomy
Lumpectomy (sometimes known as a tylectomy, partial mastectomy, breast segmental resection or breast wide local excision) is a surgical removal of a discrete portion or "lump" of breast tissue, usually in the treatment of a malignant tumor or brea ...
, which removes only a small amount of tissue. Crile performed his final radical mastectomy in 1954
and became a public advocate of alternative procedures, which are now standard. In 1955, he published an article, "A Plea Against the Blind Fear of Cancer", in ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine and a book, ''Cancer and Common Sense''.
The medical establishment was resistant to the changes he advocated so he sought to influence them through their patients.
He was an outspoken critic of traditional procedures for decades and some of his patients, including author
Babette Rosmond
Babette Rosmond (November 4, 1917 – October 23, 1997) was an American author.
Biography
Rosmond sold her first short story to ''The New Yorker'' at age seventeen. She published short fiction of her own and with Leonard M. Lake. She worked a ...
, became public advocates as well.
Crile died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
at age 84.
Family
Crile married Jane Halle in 1935. She died of cancer in 1963. They had three daughters and one son,
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
producer
George Crile III
George Washington Crile III (March 5, 1945 – May 15, 2006) was an American journalist most closely associated with his three decades of work at CBS News. He specialized in dangerous and controversial subjects, resulting in both praise and c ...
.
Their daughter Ann Crile married surgeon
Caldwell Esselstyn
Caldwell may refer to:
People
* Caldwell (surname)
* Caldwell (given name)
* Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada
Places
Great Britain
* Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet
* Caldwell, East ...
and their son is author
Rip Esselstyn
Rip Esselstyn (born 1963), a former firefighter and triathlete, is an American health activist and food writer. He is the author of ''The Engine 2 Diet'' (2009), ''Plant-Strong'' (2016) previously published as ''My Beef With Meat'' (2013), and ''Th ...
. In 1963, Crile married his second wife, Helga Sandburg, the daughter of poet
Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
.
Publications
Crile was an avid author on many subjects, especially medicine and travel.
He had a weekly radio program in the 1980s called ''90 Seconds'' on
WERE
''Were'' and ''wer'' are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures ( ang, wer, odt, wer, got, waír, ofs, wer, osx, wer, goh, wer, non, verr).
In ...
.
* ''The Hospital Care of the Surgical Patient: A Surgeon's Handbook'' (with Franklin L. Shively Jr.), C. C Thomas, 1943
* ''Practical Aspects of Thyroid Disease'', Saunders, 1949.
* ''Treasure-Diving Holidays'' (with Jane Crile), Viking, 1954.
* ''Cancer and Common Sense'', Viking, 1955.
* ''More Than Booty'' (with Jane Crile), McGraw, 1965.
* ''A Biological Consideration of Treatment of Breast Cancer'', C. C Thomas, 1967.
* ''A Naturalistic View of Man: The Importance of Early Training in Learning, Living, and the Organization of Society'', World Publishing, 1969.
* ''Above and Below: A Journey Through Our National Underwater Parks'' (with ''Helga Sandburg''), McGraw, 1969.
* ''What Women Should Know About the Breast Cancer Controversy'', Macmillan, 1973.
* ''Surgery, Your Choices, Your Alternatives'', Delacorte, 1978.
* ''The Way It Was: Sex, Surgery, Treasure, and Travel'', 1907–1987, Kent State University Press, 1992.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crile, George Jr.
1907 births
1992 deaths
American surgeons
American autobiographers
University School alumni
Hotchkiss School alumni
Yale University alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
20th-century American physicians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century surgeons