Department History
The Legacy of G. W. N. Eggers, 1896-1963
A
member of the Southern Surgical Association and an internationally
recognized orthopedic surgeon, Dr. G. W. N. Eggers died in New York
on May 2, 1963. He was in that city to attend the Centennial
Celebration of the Hospital for Special Surgery as a guest of honor
in recognition of his position as President of the American
Orthopedic Association and for his outstanding leadership in
orthopedics and traumatology.
Dr. Eggers was Professor of Orthopedic Surgery
and Chief of the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of
Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. He had been associated
with the Institution as student and teacher for some 44 years. A
native of Galveston, he was born on January 28, 1896, the son of
Emil E. F. Eggers and Gertrude Mensman Eggers. He received his
undergraduate degree from Rice University in 1917 and enrolled in
the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1919 following two years
of service as a Lieutenant in the Field Artillery of the American
Expeditionary Forces during World War I. After receiving his medical
degree in 1923, he was an Instructor in the Department of Anatomy
for a year. He interned at Charity Hospital in New Orleans in
1924-1925, and returned to the Medical Branch at Galveston as an
Instructor in Surgery. In this his surgical apprenticeship, he was
guided by Dr. James E. Thompson, who had founded the department, and
by his successor, Dr. Albert O. Singleton. In the ensuing years, his
interests turned strongly to orthopedic surgery, and in 1943 he
became the first Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Chief of the
newly established Division of Orthopedic Surgery at the University
of Texas Medical Branch. He was vigorous, enthusiastic and
productive to the day of his death and had many commitments in
academic surgery for the future.
Dr. Eggers received innumerable scholastic and
professional honors during his lifetime, including election to Alpha
Omega Alpha in 1922, his junior year in medical school and in 1957
to Sigma Xi for his research achievements. He was a fellow of the
American College of Surgeons, a Diplomat and a former President
(1960 1962) of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. He received
international recognition for his research work, especially for his
self designed orthopedic appliances. His best known invention was an
internal slotted plate, universally called the "Eggers Splint." In
1949, he was presented the Robert Danis Award by the Scientific
Committee of the International Society of surgery. This award was
given for important work on the operative treatment of fractures. He
was a past recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Scientific Value of
an Exhibit on "The Influence of the Contact Compression Factor on
Osteogenesis of Surgical Fractures," which was presented by the
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in Chicago.
Dr. Eggers was recognized as a lecturer and
consultant. In 1954, he spent two months in Japan and Korea as an
overseas consultant in orthopedic surgery for the Far East Command
at the request of the Surgeon General of the United States Army.
More recently, in 1962, he delivered the Packard Lecture at the
University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver; the Rainbow Lecture
at the University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio; and participated in
the Georgia Medical Association Meeting at Savannah, Georgia. He had
given numerous lectures in Monterey, Mexico City and Puebla, Mexico,
and had been named an honorary citizen of Puebla.
His more than 60 scientific publications reflect
the wide range of his knowledge and interest, although he was
perhaps best known for his contributions in the field of fracture
treatment and cerebral palsy. He was an associate editor of The
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and was on the editorial advisory
board of the American Journal of Orthopedics.
In addition to serving as president of the
American Academy for Cerebral Palsy, Dr. Eggers had held similar
office in the Texas Orthopedic Association. The Texas Surgical
Society, the Clinical Orthopedic Society, the Houston Orthopedic
Club and the Texas Rheumatism Association. He was vice president of
the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery from 1960 to 1962, and
was elected president of the American Orthopedic Association in
1962. Death interrupted his term of office.
He was a member of the Texas Medical Association
through the Galveston County Medical Society, of the American
Medical Association, the American Association for the Surgery of
Trauma, the American Association of University Professors, the
American College of Surgeons, the International Society of
Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, the Singleton Surgical Society,
the Southern Medical Association, the Southern Surgical Association,
the Orthopedic Research Society and the South Surgical Congress of
which he was a founder member.
Throughout most of his professional life, Dr.
Eggers was active in crippled children's work in Texas. It was
largely through his interest and effort that funds were obtained for
construction of the State Hospital for Crippled and Deformed
Children at the University of Texas Medical Branch, which was
completed in 1937. He was chairman of the Technical Advisory
Committee of the Division of Crippled Children's Services of the
Texas State Department of Health and was on the Medical Advisory
Committee of the Texas Rehabilitation Center at Gonzales, Texas. He
was a member of the Executive Committee and of the Board of
Directors of the Texas Society for Children and had served as
Chairman of the Galveston Chapter of the National Foundation and on
the Board of the Galveston County Society for Crippled Children. His
major contribution in the field of cerebral palsy was the hamstring
transfer and patellar retinacular division, an operation which bears
his name. He gave an instructional course on "Surgery in Cerebral
Palsy" at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons as a regular feature for a number of years. His last major
scientific work was on the subject of cystic change in the iliac
acetabulum, a subject which had involved patient case studies over a
period of ten years. More recently, he had also focused attention on
hypermobile medial meniscus studies and on the use of the limited
fusion procedure in the treatment of spondylolysis and
spondylolisthesis.
Dr. Eggers was an ardent hunter and fisherman.
The bays and bayous adjacent to Galveston Island gave him
opportunity to study the flights of migrant game birds and their
nesting habits. He knew where to find the best duck shooting in
December, the choice spots for white wing doves and the most likely
fishing among Gulf waters. He was well read and a tireless student
of history. He had followed for years the culture of the American
Indian and had recently become fascinated with the medical aspects
of early Texas history; his search for material led him to Mexico
and into little known references sources. This subject matter he
planned to include in his presidential address for the American
Orthopedic Association. In 1923, Dr. Eggers married the daughter of
a Galveston general practitioner, Edith Sykes, who survives him. He
had two children, a daughter, Mrs. Lloyd Roosevelt and a son, Dr.
George William Nordholtz Eggers, Jr., who is Professor of
Anesthesiology at the University of Missouri.
Dr. Eggers' life was one of outstanding
productivity, as can be attested by the foregoing biography. But the
chronology of a man's life cannot begin to connote the intrinsic
meaning of that life. To his family, his students, his friends, his
patients, he will be remembered for much more for his gentle whimsy,
his delight in the natural wonders of field and stream, his loyalty
to his colleagues and his family, his unceasing dedication to his
work, his belief in the inherent dignity of man, his absolute
honesty, and his persistent exploration of new ideas.
T. G. Blocker, Jr., M.D.
Reprinted from
Transactions Southern Surgical
Association, Volume 75, Copyright © 1964 by J. P. Lippincott
Company
