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PROFILE

Labor Of
Love

OB-GYN reflects on decades of
patient care, medical advances.

Bonnie Borin Riback
Special to the Jewish News

Lazar and allowed the 5-year-old boy to
shadow him during the day in his medi-
cal office at the corner of West Jefferson
and Walnut. He even took Lazar on
r. Morton Roger Lazar was the
occasional house calls.
physician who delivered me, my
After majoring in premedicine at City
three siblings and many of our
College (now Wayne State University),
Detroit community's baby boomers. His
the affable 18-year-old college gradu-
medical career spanned more than 50
ate, affectionately nicknamed "Pinky"
years and his bedside manner and skill
for his tuft of red hair, attended the
matched his benevolence. He wanted
University of Michigan Medical School.
to alleviate the pain of childbirth, the
Lazar was only 22 when he received
sometimes excruciating pain accepted
his medical degree, the youngest to be
and often celebrated rite of passage into
graduated from the class of 1936.
motherhood.
With a one-way ticket and $300 in
Luckily, Lazar returned to Detroit in
1943, after completing a four-year residen- his pocket, young Morton boarded a
cy in obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN) train from Ann Arbor to Washington
University Barnes Hospital in St. Louis
at Washington University Barnes Hospital
to begin his internship specialty in
in St. Louis, Mo., to practice medicine
obstetrics with the help of a Rockefeller
at Harper Hospital. There, he became a
grant. There, Lazar worked under Dr.
strong advocate for painless labor and
childbirth. It was a novel idea in history. It Otto Schwarz, head of obstetrics and
gynecology, and also interned in Barnes'
was a revolutionary idea in medicine.
pathology department.
He described his practice of obstetrics
In the days of quotas and fierce
as "a labor of love."
competition that existed in the medi-
Dr. Lazar, in the late 1940s, with a newborn baby he delivered
Lazar's quest for pain free sedation
cal world, getting accepted into medical
for women in labor, stemmed from his
at Harper Hospital.
school or hospital residency programs
experiences in an obstetrics residency at
as a Jew, according to Lazar, was quite an
Washington University Barnes Hospital in
made a first lieutenant and sent straight
accomplishment. They were restricting Jews Getting Started
St. Louis, Mo.
to a training camp in Oklahoma — to "a
Detroit in 1943 was a tough place to find
in programs everywhere, even at Harper.
He explained, `Back then, in the
place nobody heard of;' Lazar said with
work, even for a well-trained physician
"Dr. Eddie Mintz was the only other Jewish
1930s and '40s, Morphine, Demerol or
a smile.
as Lazar. He started out renting the only
OB-GYN resident I recall at Harper"
Scopolamine used to be given to induce
"After nine months in the Army", he
partial office space he could find, in the
"The medical world was rife with anti-
a state of twilight sleep' during labor. I
said,
"they promoted me to captain:'
Semitism; I experienced it',' Lazar laments. Fisher Building, for $35 a month.
abhorred how women were treated in
He
would serve three years in the
"That first month, I never saw a single
"There was a lot of jealousy, too, in medi-
obstetrics, how they screamed in so much
South
Pacific as an Army surgeon in a
patient — it shows you how tough times
cine back then. Maybe today, it's different;
pain during childbirth:'
MASH
unit.
but back then medicine was a dog-eat-dog were Lazar said.
He added, "I couldn't do anything
Surviving
his own ordeals under
He worked days seeing patients, nights
world.
to alleviate all the pain — not until I
attack
from
Japanese
suicide bombers,
delivering babies at $15 per, delivery. He
In a double twist, Lazar had not been
returned from the Army after taking an
treating
the
wounded
from mustard gas,
says he was lucky to do three a month,
given a position at Jewish Hospital of St. -
anesthesia course in Tennessee"
and
jaundice
from
the
Atabrine given
while
working
for
the
city
of
Detroit.
Louis because his Jewish identity had not
for
malaria,
and
survivors
of the Bataan
"Today,"
he
said
,with
a
hint
of
remorse,
been revealed at first to its chief of staff.
Interest In Medicine
Death
March,
Lazar
saw
his
share of war
"the
kind
of
medicine
I
once
practiced,
Morton Roger Lazar was born in 1913, one Lazar went on to be appointed as that hos-
in
New
Guinea,
Australia,
the
Philippines
well, it's quite different:'
pital's chief resident.
of five children of Hungarian immigrants,
and
Japan.
He
eventually
was
promoted
Detroit might have lost Lazar to St.
Irma Deutsch and Isadore Lazar. Living in
to chief of surgery.
Army Years
Louis had it not been for Dr. Norman
Lorain, Ohio, they moved to River Rouge
"I got the feeling there was a lot of
Volunteering
in
1943
for
service
during
Miller, a U-M physician who was instru-
in 1914.
gratitude
toward anyone willing to take
WWII,
Pinky
should
have
been
deployed
mental in bringing Lazar's reputation to
A kindly neighbor named Dr. St. Louis
as
a
captain
or
a
major,
but
he
was
too
the attention of Dr. George Kamperman,
was likely the first to influence Lazar's
Labor Of Love on page 46
young for those Tanks. Instead, he was
then chief of staff at Harper.
interest in medicine. He took a liking to

D

September 23 • 2010

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