Picture 1:Photo of Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo 1920 – 2008. Picture taken at his home in Alhambra on Sunday 01/30/2005 - 9 days to the Lunar New Year of the Rooster, on that visit his students came to wish happy new year to him and his wife, most of them belong to the class of YKSG 74-75. [ photo by Phạm Xuân Cầu, private collection Phạm Anh Dũng, (YKSG 74) ]
Introduction: For 88 years, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo knew an extremely rich and varied existence. We would need a full-length book to render justice to such a life. This is only a short essay intermingled with personal recollections to commemorate the 101st anniversary of our professor. With all due caution, the author wishes that this writing - though by all means not exhaustive – would still remain accurate. My sincere thanks and appreciation go to Professors Trần Ngọc Ninh and Đào Hữu Anh, my schoolmates at the Saigon School of Medecine for providing me with the private materials, photos and recollections from personal conversations to help bring about this writing.
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo saw life on 04/14/1920 in Hanoi. His father’s homevillage was Kim Lũ Village, Hà Đông Province while his mother’s family hailed from Làng Vẽ Village near Hanoi.. At the early age of 4, he attended Trí Tri School on Hàng Đàn Street then transferred to Bờ Sông High School [École du Quai Clemenceau]. He showed a gift for drawing and aspired to become a teacher. In his childhood, he led a sane lifestyle, actively engaged in sports like running, disc and weight throwing, swimming by himself at Hồ Tây Lake. He joined the Boy Scouts as a young boy and learned to live with the harsh elements. His mother was a merchant who later converted to Christianism. All her children were baptized alongside her at the nhà thờ Các Thánh Tử Đạo/Church of Martyrs at Cửa Bắc. Of her eight children, he is the oldest. Though they were new converts, we can count in this family: two priests, one sister of the Saint Paul of Chartres Order, and a De La Salle brother.
Father Hoàng Quốc Trương, his younger brother, was among the first Vietnamese to attend and graduate with a Ph.D. in Zoology from an American university. He returned to Vietnam and taught that subject at the Faculty of Science in Saigon for many years.
In 1937, at the age of 17 he was too young - by one year - to take the exam for the Trường Sư phạm / École de Pédagogie/University of Education to realize his dream of becoming a teacher. At that time, the father director of the Kẻ Giảng School was looking for a teacher with a Diplôme degree. He accepted the offer with the intention of teaching for one year only so that he could return to Hanoi afterward to take the exam for the University of Education. He taught French at the Kẻ Giang School during the weekdays and went back to Hanoi on weekends.
However, he ended up staying at Kẻ Giảng school for 3 years. During that time he became a devout Catholic. Though he was never ordained, he was imbued with the virtues of a religious: poverty, chastity, obedience. He acquired the lifetime habit of attending morning mass at 6 without fail. Even during his years at the university in Philadelphia in the United States.
He started a family in 1946 in Hà Nội. For a short while, he worked as a tailor and ventured into business but it did not turn out well. Upon passing the Baccalaureate successfully, he decided to go to medical school. When the Professors Phạm Biểu Tâm and Trần Ngọc Ninh were working as interns at the Phủ Doãn hospital, he was still a student. He started medical school one year after Mss Vũ Thị Thoa and Nguyễn Thị Nhị. [ Dr. Vũ Thị Thoa later taught pediatrics at Nhi Đồng Hospital and Dr. Nguyễn Thị Nhị obstretic and gynecology at Hùng Vương Hospital].
He graduated in 1952 with a thesis titled: L’ Hémodiagnostic / Hemodiagnosis [ Hoàng Tiến Bảo, M.D.E., Hanoi 1952 ]. At Phủ Doãn Hospital, he served as a surgeon until 1954 then moved to the South with his family after the signing of the Geneva Accord splitting the country in two.
In Saigon, he started a private practice for a short time at the low-income Khánh Hội neighborhood. Then Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh who freshly returned from France with an Agrégé diploma offered him the position of assistant at the Bình Dân Hospital located on Phan Thanh Giản Street, Saigon. From a general surgeon he became a specialist in orthopedics working with his former colleagues at Phủ Doãn Hospital who also sought refuge in the South. Moreover, with Professor Nguyễn Hữu, he also lectured in Anatomy to the first year students on Trần Hoàng Quân Street, Cholon.
In 1960, the Medical School in Saigon sent him to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States to study Orthopedics for one year. Upon completion, he transferred to Temple University to study Bone Pathology. During that time, he passed the ECFMG (1962), completed the Master of Science program in Orthopaedic Pathology, American Board of Pathology. He returned to Vietnam in 1966.
Since 1966, he served as professor at the School of Medecine in Saigon and head of the Orthopedics Department at the Bình Dân Hospital, [succeeding Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh who moved to Nhi Đồng Hospital to start the Pediatric Surgery Department. Professor Ninh’s reputation was well established in Southeast Asia for his research works.] Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo simultaneously developed a new area of study in Bone Tumor in Vietnam to treat the many patients who were afflicted by this perilous disease.
Nguyễn Gia Khánh (YKSG 68), was also one of his students. In the post 1975 era, Khánh went to teach at the University of Alberta, Canada. He earned a reputation for his world class research in AnaPath and authored a text book in this field. Nguyễn Gia Khánh wrote:
“In the old days, in the years 1967-1969, when I was being trained in general surgery at the Bình Dân Hospital, I was in frequent contact with Professor Bảo, even though I was not studying Orthophedics Surgery. Professor Bảo was only one year younger than Professor Nguyễn Hữu but he acted much younger than his age. He wanted us to address him as “anh/older brother” and call ourselves “em/younger brother”. I had the occasion to attend many evening classes in bone pathology he conducted for the interns in the Orthopedics ward at the Bình Dân Hospital. His lectures were very interesting and practical. He constantly used microscope slides and bone X-Rays in the class. Quite often he emphasized the necessity to use Xrays and the opinion of radiologists in the interpretation of the biopsy of bone tumors to avoid dangerous and regrettable mistakes. This is a fundamental truth that holds to this day. Professor Bảo had the special and rare opportunity to study for four years under Professor ErnestAegerter, a giant in bone pathology at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Not many people are as lucky as he!”
In 1974, he enrolled at the University of Hong Kong to train as a specialist in Spine Surgery under the guidance of the English Professor A.R. Hodgson. He then went back to Vietnam to introduce that specialty at the Bình Dân Hospital in cooperation with Dr. Hoover the representative of AMA / American Medical Association in Vietnam. As a result, many a patients stricken with Pott’s disease and spinal cord injury were able to regain their normal lifestyle. Pott’s disease was very common in Vietnam when tuberculosis ran rampant. In those years, he has trained generations of students who later achieved outstanding success in all medical fields, including orthopedic trauma and spinal cord injuries.
Võ Văn Thành and Vũ Tam Tĩnh (YKSG 74) were his students in the treatments of spinal cords and worked under him for almost 8 years at the Bình Dân Hospital. They did not have the chance to seek freedom overseas and remained in Vietnam. Under trying cirscumstances, they strove to build up and expand the Spinal Surgery ward. Professor Bảo wrote: “Thành and Tĩnh arethe typical representativesof the class of 1974 at home.” He added: “Thành and Tĩnh know very well how I feel about them.” (2)
Vũ Tam Tĩnh passed away from severe illness before the Professor. Võ Văn Thành continued to keep close and respectful contact with Professor Bảo until the latter’s last day.
Picture 2:The hair on his ancient student’s head has already turned gray. The day thispicture was taken, Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo already left us for 6 years. Võ Văn Thành, now a medical professor in Saigon was shown exchanging with Professor David Segal from Israel the result of a spinal operation. [ photo by Nguyễn Luân, source: Ảnh Việt Nam 04.23.2014 ]
THE PROFESSOR WHO TAUGHT PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
Professor Bảo did not dwell in fanciful theories but taught very practical knowledge to help the students understand and put it into practice on the spot. He taught with fervor and care making sure that the students did not get lost in the maze of information in the textbooks. From the school campus to the hospital grounds, one way or another, Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo left his indelible marks on his medical students under his care. In a memorial to his honor, former intern Phan Ngọc Hà (YKSG 74) penned the following lines about the experience he shared with the professor during his 5 years at the school of medicine.
“In the first year: the subject he taught for two weeks was about the anatomy of the human limbs. The second year: he introduced the subject of Anapath with a lecture on inflammation including 4 million symptoms of swelling, pain, fever, rashes. The third year: he discussed the topic of bone fractures involvingthe different spots of the body they may occur and the proper methods of treatment. The fourth year: he lectured about bone tumors, a very new course and the materials he prepared were useful manuals.The fifth year: he schooled us in Operative Medicine. Instead of focusing on the academic substance of the subject, he imparted the students with the knowledge they could put into use the moment they began their actual practice.”
Even with students who came for practical training for a short time at the Orthopedics ward of Bình Dân Hospital, the Professor devoted much time in training and caring for them. Recently, on the 13rd anniversary of Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo [ 20.01.2008 – 20.01.2021 ], Nguyễn Văn Luỹ (YKSG 74), had this to say in his Facebook: “I can never forget the times I assisted the Professor operating on TB of the spine. The procedure lasted for quite a while, yet he applied himself to the task, remained demure in his manner, gentle in his explanation to the students around him.He showed great care for the life of his students and asked the hospital management to classify the fifth year students doing intership at the Orthopedics ward as commissioned so that they could be paid. The amount of the stipends they received was quite significant but it also represented an immense source of encouragement to the poor students.The Professor is a just and fair man. At the Orthopedics ward, the assignment of the students to the treatment room, operation room, casting room was done fairly. Depending on their length of intership, the students were allowed to perform from the simple to the more involved operations. Everybody was given the opportunity to receive the same training.He never failed to encourage them to further their knowledge.Those are only some of the memories I recalled with the Professor, an educator who was both talented and virtuous.”
His philosophy of teaching is to communicate to his students both “knowledge and praticality”. It is very different from the French policy of forming only a limited number of “cream of the crop – elite” through a system of arduous exams to eventually accept only from 12 to 15 tenured interns out of a field of 200 – 300 candidates each year. Realizing the wide divide between the caliber and quality of training that existed between the tenured interns and the rest of the group called – externes des couloirs, Professor Bảo firmly believed that the intern program should be extended, the number of the tenured interns should be increased so that all the bright students can enjoy the same opportunity to become good physicians. A model which reflects closely the American Medical Education system of Internship and Residency. For example, when teaching Anatomy, he always emphasized the application aspect of it. In other words, he tended to teach Functional Anatomy instead.
In 1974, [according to Bạch Thế Thức], up to 66 tenured interns and 4 provisional ones have successfully passed the internship exam – a marked increase compared to the previous years. In the following year, 1975, the number went up even higher to 90. That philosophy of expanding the internship program of Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo – with the support of the Faculty Committee - stood the test of time. It was amply manifested in the number of students who later became successful professionals providing good medical care not only in Vietnam but also overseas. Regrettably, his promising “expanded internship program” was abolished by the new regime after 1975. They have downgraded the Medical Science Education System in the South to the level of the People’s Medical System imported from the North. That is also the opinion of Prof. Trần Ngọc Ninh of the Saigon School of Medicine, a witness who remained in the country during the transition time.
Picture 3: The Council of Examiners and a number of the 66 new tenured interns of the 1974 Class of the Saigon School of Medicine, front row from left: Dr. Dương Minh Quảng (representative of the Ministry of Health), Prof. Đặng Trần Hoàng, Prof. Đào Đức Hoành, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo (Head of the Committee), Prof. Huỳnh Thị Xuân, Prof. Trần Văn Bảng, Lecturer Hoàng Minh Mậu, Lecturer Tăng Nhiếp.
[ Picture at an auditorium in Bình Dân Hospital,private collection Bạch Thế Thức]
1975 AND THE LONGEST DAYS
The event of 1975 came like a tempest shaking up the whole country and people. The day of April 30th, 1975 was remembered by Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo as the “Ngày dài nhất trong cuộc đời Bác sĩ /the longest day in the life of a Medical Doctor”. He courageously assumed the position of director of the Bình Dân Hospital and stood ready to accept any risks that may come his way. He used his position to cover for the old personnel and staff, the medical doctors and students under his wing.(5)
The fate of the medical doctors in the South after 1975 was not very different from that of their colleagues who remained in Hanoi after 1954. They were “retained to work in their posts under “parole/ tình trạng lưu dung” [not “retained/lưu dụng” with a dot under the “u”] in the derogatory sense that they were “retained with tolerance”and they were treated like second class citizens.
Professor Bảo’s integrity, competence and extraordinary personality earned the deference and respect of the new regime but to say that they trusted him is to stretch it. He was retained because they needed him. Consider the case of the much acclaimed and respected Professor Phạm Biểu Tâm. The security forces of the city twice searched his home but came up empty handed causing the Municipal Committee of Saigon to apologize twice.(3) An old hand of the communist regime in the North offered this observation paid in tears and blood: “The communists can kill you in cold blood then send you a funeral spray without qualms.”
Picture 4:Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo and his students in 1976 at the Bình Dân Hospital, on Phan Thanh Giản Street, Saigon; from left: Bùi Đắc Lộc (YKSG 72), Võ Văn Thành (YKSG 74), Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo, Võ Thành Phụng (YKSG 68), Nguyễn Văn Quang (YKSG 70), Quan Vân Hùng (YKSG 76); second row: Dương Hoàng Anh (YKSG 76), Nguyễn Tri Phương (YKSG 76), Tăng Quốc Kiệt (YKSG 76). [ private collection and notations by Bùi Đắc Lộc ]
The author still remembers, several days prior to the New Year of the Rooster, about the start of 1981, a group of professors and students who could not leave the country met to celebrate Tết. The students came from several classes but the largest number was from the class of 1968. The two professors Hoàng Tiến Bảo and Phạm Biểu Tâm were in attendance. It was the time when the “Boat People” phenomenon was near its peak – in spite of many tragedies, fatalities people still left in droves. Many were torn between choosing to stay or leave the country. So, we were celebrating but our hearts were not fully with it. Professor Bảo kept to his usual quiet self, projecting the austere image of a religious.
Professor Tâm who never drank but brought a bottle of wine to the party. He raised the bottle for everybody to see then announced: “This time you can rest assured. This is real wine. A priest just gave it to me.” Professor Tâm was known for his habit of speaking in such allegorical/figurative way. Everybody present understood that he was referring to the “time of duplicity” coming from the North that the shocked people in the South had to endure.
In the face of daily adverse circumstances, Prof. Bảo never failed to carry out the operations, totally dedicated to his duty to care for his patients and instructing his students until his retirement and resettlement in America in 1983.
He landed in the United States at the age of 63, expecting to be reunited with his children and enjoy his retirement. At first, the couple rented a place in San Francisco then moved to Long Beach. After a while, they eventually moved with the rest of the family into a modest house in the city of Alhambra, California.
Then, his ancient students visited him and brought with them a box full of text books, printed materials urging him to study for the license to practice again. Of the group, he was probably the only one to pass the ECFMG in 1962 when he was studying in the US that qualified him to apply for residency in a hospital. But now he must also pass the FLEX, an exam that lasted for 3 days. He wrote: “In my spare time, with the books and material in sight I perused through some and became interested.But today, medical science in America has made giant strides compared to a quarter of a century ago. At that time not a single textbook mentioned IgA, IgE, IgM, Watson and Crick had not discoveredthe structure of DNA, Behavioral sciences were still unheard of…”
In spite of having been a professor in medicine and studied in the US for 6 years, to be able to practice again in the new country he must pass the licensing exams again like any other foreign born medical doctors.
ONE DAY IN HIS YEAR SERVING AS VOLUNTEER
The encouragement he received from his former students motivated him to pick up the textbooks again. This was also the opportunity for me to be close to him for almost one year [ from May/1987 to April/1988 ]. Thanks to the recommendation from my classmate Phạm Quang Thuỳ (YKSG 69) who was also his former student, Prof. Bảo and I were accepted to work as non-paid Clinical fellow / volunteer / WOC / at the Department of Medicine & Hypertension, USC Medical School under the two Professors Vincent DeQuattro and Robert Barndt, on the 6th floor of the main building of the Hospital. Besides the two of us who came from Vietnam, there were other medical doctors who hailed from countries like South Korea, China, the Philippines, Syria and even Japan working at the unit.
Approaching the rare age of seventy, he still led a lifestyle that belied his age. As it was his habit for years, without fail, he left his home in Alhambra at 6 AM with a light backpack on his shoulder, walked to the bus station to go to church for the morning mass, then changed to another bus for the USC Hospital on Zonal Ave, Los Angeles.
We worked at the hospital to familiarize ourselves with the hospital settings in the US even though prior to 1975, Prof. Bảo has studied Orthopaedics in the US and I have trained in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Letterman General Hospital, San Francisco. More importantly, at the end of one year, we also looked forward to receive letters of recommendation from the American professors. All this is quite understandable because the Americans only trust what originate from their system.
The American medical system is unfeeling and ruthless to any foreign born medical doctors who wished to practice in the United States. The way they are treated is quite different from that meted out to those who are being trained then return to their homeland afterward. On the other hand, it should be noted that from another standpoint, the system is extremely fair and exists only in America. Without exception, both of us had to start from scratch. At a later date, after working at several hospitals in New York, I have come to know the case of a respectable professor of ObGyn from Poland who worked as an EKG technician and a surgeon from Russia a respiratory therapist. They came to the US at a rather advanced age and could not attend the basic science courses that are too new for them and must be content with serving as a stepping stone for the next generation.
At USC Medical Center, the foreign born medical doctors like us though not yet licensed to practice but were allowed to work with patients to screen and sign them up for medical research programs, carry out interviews, set up individual files and folders for each patient. In addition, twice a week we were allowed to participate/observe in the patient routes of the two American professors. In spite of his many years of teaching at the School of Medicine in Saigon, Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo always acted with humility and earned the respect of those who learned of his background.
Everyday, our assignment done, the two of us went to the Norris Medical Library that contained a large collection of books to study. We mainly listened to tapes or watched videos of the lectures in medical subjects as done at the Kaplan Test Prep that usually charged considerable fees. During those sessions, Prof. Bảo jotted down summaries on his notebook in his extremely beautiful handwriting on account of his gift for drawing from early childhood. At lunchbreak, we would sit on benches under the shadow of verdant trees outside the library. Our simple lunch consisted of a sandwich, a bottle of springwater, and an occasional banana, apple or grapes for dessert that Mrs Bảo caringly packed in a Ziploc and put in his backpack.
During that time, I served as an unwitting witness to his unselfish concern for his former students. Especially for those who graduated after 1975 and met with difficulties in submitting the required documents to qualify them to take the licensing courses. There was that time when he was about to take his FLEX exam but still took the time to lead a group of his students who graduated after 1975 to meet with the Medical Board in Sacramento to convince it to let them take the licensing exam. On another occasion, he took a full day off at USC and boarded a bus to Pomona to persuade a former student to persevere in his studies. I later learned that student eventually was able to regain his medical vocation.
I knew he was filled with joy upon learning that I had successfully passed my FMGEMS and went to several interviews to be admitted to the NRMP (National Resident Matching Program). He was the first one to congratulate and tell me he was confident that I would not have any problems dealing with the challenging 3 years ahead of me. After that, I bid goodbye to California to head for New York in the hope to complete the internship and residency at the hospital system of SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout that three-year journey, at the age of 47, I occasionally received a postcard or short letter in his beautiful handwriting. To this day, I still cherish and am grateful for the encouragement and concern he showed me then.
SETTING UP STUDY GROUPS FOR HIS FORMER STUDENTS
In 1991, at the end of my internship program in Internal Medicine I returned to California and joined a VA Hospital in Long Beach. I came to visit him and was extremely glad to find him in good health and of clear mind at the age of 71. He was surrounded by a group of former students who immigrated to the US at a rather inopportune time. To keep their spirit up, Prof. Bảo organized study groups to prepare them for the exams. They took turn meeting either at his home or at the students’ place.
They met most often at the home of the Nguyễn Đức Thụ couple on Crystal Lane – also named in jest Crystal Lane Medical College because this is where a good number of his former students trained and passed the exams to practice medicine again like Nguyễn Phan Khuê, Trương Văn Như, Huỳnh Quang Lang, Nguyễn Đức Thụ… Nguyễn Phan Khuê was the one who drove every morning from his home in West Covina to pick up Prof. Bảo in Alhambra then drove to Tustin to join the study group from 9 AM to 8 PM. After that, he took Prof. Bảo back to Alhambra. That routine went on for six long months.
Thanks to his reputation and prestige, Prof. Bảo met no difficulties inviting the medical doctors who came to the US in 1975 and joined the mainstream to come and talk with the study group. Some were also teaching at American medical schools and a number of them have studied under him in Vietnam. They came from different specialties to share their clinical and exams experience like Prof. Vũ Quý Đài (the last Dean of the Saigon School of Medicine who came to talk about Microbiology & Immunology, Phùng Mạnh Lành about Biochemistry, Bạch Thế Thức about Surgery, Quỳnh Kiều about Pediatry, Phạm Văn Hạnh and Phùng Gia Thanh about Radiology, Trà Mi about Dermatology…
Picture 6:1991, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo and students, photo of the study group taken at Nguyễn Văn Hai’s home, sitting row, from left: Trần Thiện… standing: Trần Trung Nhựt, Nguyễn Cầm, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo,TrầnMinh Cảnh, Lâm Kỳ Hiệp, Nguyễn Văn Hai, Nguyễn XuânVinh.In this photo, three individuals were not identifiable. [private collection and annotation by Nguyễn Cầm]
Besides the time spent with the group, Prof. Bảo was also close to his students in other activities. He acted as the representative of Nguyễn Phan Khuê (YKSG 74) family during the latter’s wedding ceremony, attended many weddings of his former students like Nguyễn Chí Vỹ, Lã Hoàng Trung… He visited his student Nguyễn Văn Chí who was in critical condition at the Huntington Memorial Hospital. Nobody believed that Chí had much of a chance to survive and thought that it was the last time the two of them would meet. Today, Chí is in good health but Prof. Bảo has left us. Chí still cherishes the memory of his mentor and always feels deeply touched when being reminded of him.
Picture 7: As the representative of the groom’s family, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo officiated at the wedding ceremony (1987) of his former student Nguyễn Phan Khuê (YKSG 74). Khuê left Vietnam by boat in 1983, all by himself. Prof. Bảo brought them luck. Khuê and his wife later had two children. They form a very happy family. [ private collection and annotation by Nguyễn Phan Khuê ]
Disregarding the age gap he totally joined in with his students: they studied together, ate together, told jokes together but his students never failed to keep intact their respect toward their elder in the most admirable way. In retrospect, Prof. Bảo sincerely confided: “Without you my friends, in particular the class of 74, I wouldn’t have the chance to practice again at the age of 71. To think of it, those days when we struggled together were the good happy ones.”
MEDICAL PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES
Professor Bảo obtained his license to practice in the United States. He gave a shining example to his students even though the road he had to travel on was arduous. Imbued with the qualities of: poverty, chastityhis return to medical ptactice was not motivated as much by financial gains as by an intellectual desire, a reconfirmation of his vocation for the medical profession.
At first, Doctor Hà Gia Cường who was working at the time at Fairview Medical Center, Costa Mesa, CA advised Prof. Bảo that his facility was looking for a surgeon to perform minor surgery. With Dr Cường’s recommendation, the professor was interviewed and received a score of 94 /100. In the end there were two finalists left and a young American candidate was chosen. Those who dwell in the American medical system understand this situation very well the assurance of EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) about non-discrimination on race and age notwithstanding.
The next step was to look for an office. The greatest concern was the high overhead. Eventually, Bạch Thế Thức referred Prof. Bảo to a place in Alhambra near his home. The rent was just $600 per month, right across from the office of Thuý San, his wife. The professor wrote: “Thuý San specializes in Pediatrics, when an adult wants to see a physician she refers that person to my office.As a result I do not have the worry of a doctor who just starts a new practice.”
The American medical system is becoming increasingly pragmatic in the 20th century: medical doctors are now called “providers” and patients “customers”. It is no surprise that this “service culture” does not agree with the feelings and idealism of the Professor. He may have spent 6 years [1960 – 1966] studying in the United States but his experience was restricted to an academic environment. When he started his private practice, he was confronted with the hard reality of having to run it like a business. This represented quite a “culture shock” to the Professor. Besides, he also had to think of potential litigations - legitimate or not - that forced him to practice defensive medicine involving the necessity to require very costly and at times unnecessary tests or procedures just in order to be safe in any future lawsuits.
I still recall the time the two of us were still doing volunteer works at USC. During a Morning report, a fellow from the Middle East made a sketchy presentation that prompted Prof. DeQuattro to remind our group of fellow volunteers that: “When you write a patient’s file, always keep in mind that one of those days you may have to read it before the court. No body else will protect you but the lines you wrote.” In the 1980s, the medical records were written by hand. Electronic medical record keeping is a recent invention.
In his article Những Ngày Vui, Prof. Bảo confided: “Running a medical practice in the United States is not as simple as the way I did it in Hanoi or Saigon.In America, you spend 5 minutes seeing a patient but need 15, 20 minutes to write the record. You must do it in such a way that you’ll be protected when you’re sued. What’s more, you must process the paperworks correctly to be paid by the insurance.” He added: “I realized I’m getting old and my ability to sustain stress has diminished a great deal. After about one year, I quit.” (2)
Picture 8: 1990, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo on a visit with Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâm, Tustin. From left, Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâm, Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo at Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâm’s home, Tustin Orange County. [From Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâm’s family album]
Picture 9:1992, A visit with Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâmin Tustin, Orange County, sitting: Prof. and Mrs Phạm Biểu Tâm, standing, from left: Văn Kỳ Chương, Trần Trung Nhựt, Đặng Văn Việt, Mrs Hoàng Tiến Bảo, [ ? ], Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo, Nguyễn Minh Quốc (YK 74),Dr. Trần Quý Nhu, Lâm Kỳ Hiệp, [ ? ] , Nguyễn Cầm. [From Prof. Phạm Biểu Tâm’s family album, annotation by Nguyễn Cầm]
WHEN THE MEDICAL DOCTOR TURNS PATIENT
At the age of 75, the Professor experienced problems with his health. His endurance and strength weakened. He tired more easily attributing it to old age. A couple of times he went to the hospital and took several tests: X-rays, Echocardiogram, Holter monitoring with negative results. Finally, with the recommendations of Trần Thế Kiệt (YKSG 74), he saw Dr Zhao, a non invasive cardiologist, at French Hospital, near Chinatown, Los Angeles. The latter is of mixed Vietnamese, Laotian and Chinese blood and speaks Vietnamese. He recommended a Coronary angiogram that the Professor refused to take.
In a letter to his students, the Professor wrote: “From January to June of 1995, I remained undecided because I never experienced chest pain, but afterward, he faced problems in his daily activities, felt exhausted when goingup and down the stairs, had to stop when hurrying to the bus stop.”
It’s only then that he decided to go to Garfield Medical Center, Monterey Park to do an angiogram. The result: he had 4 blocked coronary arteries - from 70 % to 90 % and medical doctor Zhao advised him to undergo a bypass. Still in a state of denial and doubt he wrote: “90%, 80% … on what basis can one make such precise evaluation? Moreover, in America not a few medical doctorsoperate on you because of monetary gains. Without that money incentive, they will not do it. For that reason, I still am undecided.” He was not right in making such judgment because medical doctor Zhao only did the diagnosis not the surgery itself. He knew perfectly well that the angiogram is “the gold standard” to detect the conditions for a heart attack. However, as a patient, he still harbored doubts.
This author still remembers the book “When doctors are patients” that recorded faithfully the cases of medical doctors who fell ill. They had to deal with their own chronic illnesses on a personal basis. Max Pinner and Benjamin F. Miller, both medical doctors, came to the same conclusion: “The patient-medical doctor has not only to deal with his own illness, but also with a total collapse.” (4)
And I understand that when faced with a “life and death” challenge, the patient-medical doctor has to undergo a profound and total transformation, including changes in judgment resulting from emotional and pschycological factors. I have observed that phenomenon in the persons of my Professors Phạm Biểu Tâm and Hoàng Tiến Bảo.
Bạch Thế Thức arranged for the Professor to see Dr Minh Lu Huang, one of the top 8 cardiothoracic surgeons in the area. In 10 years, since his graduation, Mr. Huang had performed more than 2.000 cases of coronary bypass. In Thức’s opinion, as an assistant surgeon to Dr Huang during bypass operations, the latter had shown much calm and competence in resolving critical cases that came his way. Doctor Huang decided to operate on Prof. Bảo at Huntington Memorial Hospital – a large and best equipped hospital in the region. The Professor did not need to be hospitalized early because all the Pre-op preparations were handled by Thức beforehand. There was still, however, another concern to take care of. Blood from the blood bank needed to be used during the operation and at the time a lingering fear of AIDS and Hepatitis infections still existed. Fortunately, Bạch Thế Thức belonged to the type O - universal donor group. He volunteered to donate blood prior to the operation in case the Professor needed it.
Phạm Văn Hạnh (YKSG 74), who taught at UCI in Neuro-radiology shared this information with the author: “Thức and Thuý San,throughout this time, take care of the professor and his wife as if they are their own parents.”
Professor Bảo sincerely confessed: “I can operate on my patients with earnestness but when it’s time for me to go on the operating table I am full of hesitation.” At the end, it was nobody else but the trio Bạch Thế Thức, Trần Thế Kiệt and later Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi, his former students, who helped convinced him to go ahead with the bypass operation without any qualms albeit with some concern. He wrote: “Success high, failure low,according to statistics, still some mortality rate.”
Those are the lines on the first of the 8 page-long letter he wrote at 6:30 AM on 09/22/1995, just a few hours prior to his operation. Those 8 pages could be considered as his personal message and will he addressed to his colleagues at the Saigon School of Medicine, in particular the classes of 1967 – 1974 living in the country or the five continents. He continued:
“ Will I ever see another morning as bright as this one or never again totally depends on my Keeper. He has blessed me with an exciting life, a profession I dearly love all the days of my life and the honor to come to know so many colleagues at the Saigon School of Medicine who are now living in all the corners of the globe I am unable to say“Good Morning” to. I now write this letter to them all.”
Besides his personal feelings, the Professor, now a patient, who was about to face his moment of life and death still could not set aside his concerns for the current events and the motherland. He did not forget to remind his young colleagues that “Mother Vietnam has her eyes on you”.
Then, he returned to personal notes with these lines in the post scriptum of the letter: “Please pray for me my friends, Minister Phạm Hồng Lạc, the instrument of God, Miss Liên Ôn, who met God half way on her journey on earth, remember me in your daily prayers.”
At about 9 AM on 09/22/1995, Bạch Thế Thức, in person, picked the Professor up to drive him to Huntington Memorial Hospital for a Quadruple bypass operation scheduled for 1:00 PM on the same day. Thức was the principal assistant of Surgeon Huang and revealed that during the process they found a fifth blocked artery and ended up with a Quintuple bypass. The entire operation took 4 hours, no blood transfusion was needed besides the 10 units of platelets and everything went smoothly. On the fourth day, the Professor was discharged home. His recovery was fast with no postoperative complications.
Picture 10 A: A week after the operation, on 09/28/1995, from Irvine, Phạm Xuân Cầu (YKSG 74)drove Võ Văn Thành (YKSG 74) who just arrived from Saigon to visit the Professor and his wife in Alhambra, on his left are Võ Văn Thành and Phạm Xuân Cầu. The Professor and his wife treated the two students to a hearty meal at a Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park. [private collection and annotation by Phạm Xuân Cầu]
Picture 10 B: The photo was taken one month after the operation, from left: the couple Bạch Thế Thức - Thuý San, Professor and Mrs Hoàng Tiến Bảo, the couple Nguyễn Đức Thụ - Cẩm Anh. As a tradition, on every Tết, many of his students congregateat the Professor’s home to celebrate with and wish the Professor and his wife well. This tradition was upheld even after his death except for the year 2020 – 2021 on account of the Wuhan Covid. [private collection Bạch Thế Thức]
Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo enjoyed 13 more exciting years after the operation. Modern medicine succeeded in “Adding years to life – and life to years.” That is also the motto of rehabilitation medicine, considered the Third Step in Medical Science.
Immediately after his recovery, he resumed an active life, keeping in close contact with his students especially with those of the YKSG 74 class.
Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo passed away on 01/ 21/2008 in Alhambra, California. His funeral was held at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, Rosemead on the 26 of January, 2008 with the attendance of his students living in Southern California and other far away places. The author and many of his students never forget what he has done for us and the great example he offered through his magnanimous and gentle person. Numerous eulogies were written celebrating his outstanding accomplishments. His student Đặng Văn Chất (YKSG 72) read this eulogy at his grave site:
“The Professor led a meaningful life, a life we all aspire to live,a life of a Great Medical Doctor always devoted to his patients, the life of a Great Educator always devoted to his students, the life of an exemplary husband and father. More than that, we are very happy that Professor Bảo has fulfilled his duty to our beloved Motherland Vietnam. The Motherland Vietnam dear to all Vietnamese living in Vietnam and abroad…”
A PRIVATE NOTE CONCERNING PROF. HOÀNG TIẾN BẢO
A common drawback when writing about a great personality is for the writer to discuss his involvement or relationship with the subject matter. However, it is sometimes unavoidable because in so doing it may help the readers acquire a deeper dimension of the person. And that great personality is Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo.
At about the end of 1989, I was struggling in my “voluntary reeducation /cải tạo tự nguyện” – to borrow the expression of my classmate Vũ Văn Dzi (YKSG 68). New York at that time, experienced extremely harsh weather. The summer was hot and humid. The winter frigid with ice and snow. In the midst of it all, I received a large envelope the Professor sent me from balmy California.
In it were the four-page speech Prof. Hoàng Tiến Bảo delivered at the opening ceremony of the Second International Conference of the Vietnamese Medical Doctors in the Free World/ Hội nghị Quốc tế Y sĩ Việt Nam Thế giới Tự Do kỳ II [ From August the 5 to 6th, 1989 ] at Anaheim Convention Center, California.(6)On the first page one can read the familiar handwriting of the Professor: “Cordially to medical doctor Ngô Thế Vinh, one of the most typicalVietnamese medical doctors living in the free world.”
As usual, He is always generous in his praise for his students. In all humility, I understand that his kind words were intended as encouragement and reminder for us to live a worthy life so that besides our personal life we must think of joining hand with the more than 3 million Vietnamese living at the four corners of the world he considered to be a priceless potential in the building of an Enlightened Motherland Vietnam.
Below is a condensed Vietnamese version of that speech conveying the “vision” of a 69 year-old immigrant who never ceased thinking about his Homeland living in misery under the communist regime.
Picture 12:The speech Professor Hoàng Tiến Bảo delivered at the opening ceremony of the Second International Conference of the Vietnamese Medical Doctors in the Free World from the 5th to the 6th of August 1989 at the Anaheim Convention Center, California. [private collection Ngô Thế Vinh ]
A CHALLENGE TO THE VIETNAMESE MEDICAL DOCTORS LIVING IN THE FREE WORLD
The organizing committee of the Second International Conference of the Vietnamese Physicians in the Free World has bestowed upon me the honor of speaking to you at this great opening ceremony about the plight of the Vietnamese physicians in the Free World.
I can hardly find words to express my emotion as I see in this room so many of my colleagues and friends, among them are many whom I haven’t seen for 5, 10, 15 years or even more.
However, in spite of the festive atmosphere of this convention, all of us Vietnamese physicians, one time in our life as refugees, are overwhelmed by sadness when our thoughts go to our friends and colleagues who unfortunately have left us forever, having sacrificed their lives while serving in the Medical Corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, or while being condemned to a slow death in so called “concentration camps’ which have been established since 1975 all over the land which at one time they have fought for its freedom.
Each Vietnamese physician in the free world has his or her own story about when, how, and why we left our beloved homeland. For each one among us, the fundamental motivation is to seek the freedom from oppression.
For that ultimate reason, some of us have paid the exhorbitant price of life.
For all of us, resettlement in newly adopted countries is not a simple matter. More often than not, it is a long and painful process
While many have overcome multiple obstacles, and have succeeded in their struggle to practice medicine again, others are still more or less far from that goal.
Crossing our paths are certain persons who are more than willing to give us invaluable help during our ordeal. Some of them are here today with us while many others are not. To all of them we would like to say “Thank you”.
My dear colleagues, I am proud to be among you today, the Vietnamesephysicians in the Free World.
- You, who are still trying to overcome apparently unsurmountable difficulties in order to be able to wear the white gown again.
- You, who are whole-heartedly continuing to serve sick people worldwide.
- You, who are serving or holding executive positions in medical and public health centers all over the world.
- You, who are teaching in medical schools, sometimes prestigious ones in Europe, Australia, and America.
- You, who in the United States, are not reluctant to take care of sick people in correction centers despite the modest pay.
Locally, our colleagues who are practicing in the Los Angeles and Orange counties have been providing good medical care for the huge Vietnamese community settled in that area. Many Vietnamese patients, handicapped by the language barrier, psychologically and emotionally disturbed by the sudden and drastic change of their environment, prefer to go to Vietnamese physicians.
As you know, Vietnam is a small country which happens to share the common frontier with China, the largest country in Asia, the most populous country in the world.
Our ancestors have endured ten centuries of Chinese domination. But China, which had absorbed Manchuria, Tibet, one half of Mongolia, has never succeeded in absorbing Vietnam.
This is due to our ancestor’s vison: expansion for survival.
Today, we oversea Vietnamese are continuing their tradition of freedom from oppression in a different way. Our destiny is exile for survival. Our mission is to preserve our freedom on the foreign soil beyond the boundaries of our homeland.
Sun Yat Sen, who in 1911 overthrew the Manchurian dynasty, was an oversea Chinese.
During the 6-day War between Israel and Egypt, the Israelites although victorious, lost 3 quarter of their military aircrafts, downed by Russian SAM2. It did not take long for the lost airplanes to be replaced by Israelites living in Europe and America.
The oversea Poles play an important part in the struggle of the Solidarity union and its present success.
We oversea Vietnamese, especially physicians, we will do what Lech Walesa (Chairman of the Solidarity Union of Poland/Công đoàn Đoàn Kết Ba Lan), told his countrymen in the port of Gdansk 8 years ago: “The struggle is going to be long and hard, but we shall win and we shall make our country a country of our dream.”
…
The dream of freedom for all of Vietnamese at home.
Hoàng Tiến Bảo
The 5th of August 1989
Anaheim, California
On that day, when the Dream of Freedom of our Professor becomes reality, his remains will be returned by his students to our very homeland.
NGÔ THẾ VINH
USC 1987 – Long Beach 1/21/2021
[ In commemoration of the Professor’s 13th anniversary ]
REFRENCE:
- Nhật Ký Đời Tôi, Hoàng Tiến Bảo
[ private collection Phạm Xuân Cầu ] - Một Đêm Vui, Những Ngày Vui, Hoàng Tiến Bảo. Hai mươi năm Hội ngộ (1974 –1994).
Tuyển tập Y khoa 67-74 [ private collection Bạch Thế Thức ] - Tìm Lại Thời Gian Đã Mất, Tưởng Nhớ Một Vị Danh Sư, GS Y Khoa Phạm Biểu Tâm.
Ngô Thế Vinh, Chân Dung VHNT & VH, Việt Ecology Press 2017 - When Doctors Are Patients. Pinner M., Miller B.F.
W.W, Norton and Co. New York 1951 - Ngày Dài Nhất trong đời medical doctor. Hoàng Hôn – Hoàng Tiến Bảo.
Diễn Đàn Sinh Viên Quân Y Hiện Dịch https://www.svqy.org/2020/5-2020/ngay/ngay.html - Đại Hội Kỳ II Hội Y Sĩ Việt Nam Tự Do. Tập San Y Sĩ số 102 – Tháng 5-1989
[ private collection Thân Trọng An ]
