Declared legally blind at the age of 15, George Bagby could have let this fate write his story. Instead, he put on his new, rose-colored glasses and saw a world of opportunity. Dr. Bagby, inventor of the Self Compression Bone Plate, is now 88 years of age…and he is just now introducing a new technology that could make significant inroads into less expensive care in the developing world.
Along the way he has altered the fate of non-humans in orthopedic need as well. In fact, Dr. Bagby’s technology went a long way toward improving the life of Triple Crown Winner Seattle Slew.
From medical school at Temple University, to the life of a country doctor in Minnesota…to the life of a medic in Korea, and then his orthopedic training at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bagby has held on to some fundamental principles, one of which is, “Do what you say you are going to do.”
Indeed, Dr. Bagby doesn’t make idle promises. Yes, this is because of ethics…but also because of a longstanding fear of a spanking. Dr. Bagby explains: “At the age of five I snuck into the woods behind our house in Waco, Texas, and decided that I was going to smoke some cedar bark. I ended up being spanked by my parents—with my pants up. Afterwards, my Mom and Dad informed me that if I ever did that again I would have a spanking with my pants down. The message that I took away was: ‘If I ever said that I would do something and I didn’t then I would be a liar.’ Even years later when I went to Korea during the war and became a tobacco smoker, I felt the old fear returning as our troop ship approached the U.S. I was convinced that somehow, my mother would spank me…so I put aside cigarettes forever that day.”
Dr. Bagby, who is upset if he tells someone he will arrive at 3pm, but arrives five minutes late, says his devotion to the truth has helped him evaluate patients throughout the years. “There are times when patients, for whatever reason, are not telling the full truth. If I suspected that someone was, say, faking a limp, I would tell them, ‘OK, we are done. Put on your clothes and go home.’ Then I would look out the window and see that person walking down the street with no limp.”
Dr. Bagby was accustomed to being a few steps in front of others. He explains, “While doing my pre-medical training in 1942 I was anxious to get into medical school because I knew it was more appropriate to help the military in the medical field than to be on the front line of the war in Korea. At the time, two years of premed training were required to enter medical school, but to be competitive, it was better to have three or fours years. As I was about to start my third year of premed training I received a letter of acceptance to Temple Medical School. Coming at such a time of starting my third year of premed training and having been turned down elsewhere for the second year, I thereby misread the letter and assumed that Temple was accepting me for the third year. After rereading it I realized they were accepting me for two years, and that in three days I had to board a train from Minneapolis to Philadelphia to get there in time. This was a watershed moment in my life and I was just ecstatic.”
After the hubbub of Philadelphia, Dr. Bagby settled into a solo country practice in Minnesota for four years, then went to Mayo Clinic to refine his talents. “I began my surgical training at Mayo Clinic, but was only there three months when I was called to serve in Korea.”
Somehow, the government thought that I had three years of surgical training, as opposed to three months. I ended up at the171st Evacuation Hospital, where I clearly explained my limitations to Dr. Ed Otis, a well-trained orthopedist. We proceeded, however, and he monitored my surgical work…these were the first inklings that I would become an orthopedic surgeon.
Brilliance is often disguised as something simple…we just have to see it. When asked about what is behind his success, Dr. Bagby notes, “I am inclined to see little things that others often miss. This is largely because I cannot read quickly, and don’t enjoy watching TV, so I find my pleasure in being very aware of my surroundings. The most significant example I have of this is related to my invention of the first compression bone plate (during my time at the Mayo Clinic). One day I noticed that my screen door was sagging, and I accidentally offset a screw and saw that the wood shifted laterally relative to the metal plate. Although this was an accident, I had learned in Korea that compression was very important and came home to Rochester, Minnesota, with the hope of creating some practical compression for a bone plate for fracture fixation. This led me to begin research on dog’s femurs and I eventually earned an MS degree in orthopedics at Mayo Clinic. This work resulted in the first Self Compression Bone Plate, a new technology that did not require an added anchor or additional device to create the compression because the screw and plate arrangement became ‘Self Compressing.’”
Dr. George Bagby, Inventor of the
Self-Compression Bone Plate(1956) and
Distraction-Compression Bone Cage (1982).Dr. Bagby also gives credit to his time in Korea for setting the stage for such an invention. “During the war it was very common for fractures to be treated with traction—for months, even. These were war wounds and so we needed to avoid open reduction and internal fixation. We were fortunate to have a visiting Colonel who specialized in orthopedics; he went from hospital to hospital ‘preaching’ about how traction pulled the bone apart and slowed healing. I guess I was paying attention when he said that we should be using compression and pushing the bone together.”
Detailing the development of his Self Compressing Plate, Dr. Bagby states, “Previous plates meant to encourage compression at the fracture sight were such that the fenestrations in the plate were elongated and the screws were put in loosely. This allowed post operatively the muscles to contract and pushed the bones together. The looseness interfered with the healing process more than the advantage of the compression it created. Other past attempts involved an additional surgery on the plate and screws to create an anchor that was used to push a bone together with the other one. Although the anchor was projecting and had to be removed, it would be removed at the end of surgery before closing the wound. These are just two examples of several implants catering to compression. Worthy of note is that I did not patent it…it was patented by others through the U.S. patent office. In time it was legally considered emasculated and thereby all companies could use it without paying anything to any other than the company that manufactured it. Given that my associates and I in Spokane had treated numerous patients with this technology, and that we published the results in the American Journal of Orthopedics, my involvement was obvious.”
Whether studying in the medical library or focusing his attention on incoming patients and incoming munitions, Dr. Bagby has had to live with the challenge of limited vision. “Having to be so strongly dependent on corrective eye glasses and having poor reading skills have been real trials for me. Getting through medical texts took me much longer; I learned to rely quite a bit on diagrams and photographs of anatomy. Also, I remember being worried that if I were called into the Army and to the front line it would be frightening enough, but if I lost my glasses in the process I would have less of a chance of getting out of harms way.”
Another life trial? Being left fatherless at a young age. “I lost my dad when I was 15, something which deeply affected me because we were very close. I lived with the misconception that he died when he was forty years old. When I hit forty I became rather paranoid that I was going to meet my ultimate fate at this age as well. I worried incessantly until the next year slowly came around. And just when I told myself, ‘I’m glad that year is over with, ’ my family informed me that my father had died at the age of 41! The following year wasn’t much fun either.”
Next week: Read about Dr. Bagby’s work in Bangladesh, his contributions to the veterinary field, and his work with the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation.
