A Tribute to John L. Ochsner, Sr., MD

Ronald G. Amedee

doi:10.31486/toj.18.5003

Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.–Lauren Destefano

Before introducing the fall 2018 issue of the Ochsner Journal, I would first like to pay tribute to Dr John L. Ochsner, Sr. who died on July 6, 2018, at age 91. The son of Ochsner cofounder Dr Alton Ochsner, Dr John Ochsner forged a stellar career as a world-renowned cardiac surgeon. Just a few of his career highlights include performing more than 12,000 surgeries, serving as chair of the Department of Surgery at Ochsner for more than 20 years, performing the first heart transplant in the Gulf South region in 1970, and implanting a heart pacemaker in the youngest patient ever, an 18-hour-old neonate. Dr Ochsner's creation of a 12-bed coronary care unit during the 1971 hospital expansion was the foundation of today's John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute. Dr John Ochsner's contributions to Ochsner Health System during his 57-year career were legion and inestimable. We will miss him.

In this edition of the Journal, we are pleased to publish 5 original research articles, one from our emergency department colleagues in Brisbane, Australia on “Rhabdomyolysis: Patterns, Circumstances, and Outcomes of Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department” and another from the orthopedics department at Ochsner on the “Effect of Obesity on Component Alignment in Total Knee Arthroplasty.” The 3 other original research articles are from authors outside of our system: “Predicting American Board of Emergency Medicine Qualifying Examination Passage Using United States Medical Licensing Examination Step Scores,” “Treatment of Occipital Neuralgia by Thermal Radiofrequency Ablation,” and “Successful Treatment of Cesarean Scar Pregnancy With Suction Curettage: Our Experiences in Early Pregnancy.”

This issue also features 3 letters to the editor, including one by Reverend Anthony De Concilliis on “Spiritual Awareness in the Healthcare Workplace” and 2 editorials, one of which is a commencement address that Dr Richard Deichmann gave in winter 2016 to our Ochsner Clinical School graduates, “Compassion: Lessons From the Humanities.” Dr Deichmann's reflections track very nicely with Father Anthony's letter. This issue's Bioethics in Practice column examines the ethical implications of using clinical genomic information in research—a timely and important topic. We also present 4 interesting literature reviews and 8 case reports on various topics.

This issue's featured contributor, Dr Marcus Ware, is a gifted neurosurgeon and a valued member of the neurosciences team at Ochsner. We thank him for his years of service to our patients and for being an integral part of our educational program. Dr Ware is the senior author on “Advances in Neuro-Oncology Imaging Techniques,” one of the issue's outstanding literature reviews.

The fall issue of the Journal publishes in mid-September, meaning that we in South Louisiana still have the potential for several more hot-weather weeks and the possibility of tropical storms and hurricanes (God forbid). The fall season has always been one of my favorite times of the year as there is a hope for bright and cooler days as we prepare for Mother Nature's grand finale. Please take time to enjoy her beauty.