charles drew
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: charles drew: black american, creator of blood plasma
Date: 28 Jan 1994 19:08:59 GMT
In a post fitting of McGill, "BELL,CHRISTOPHER,MR"
writes about the Charles
Drew FAQ and asks:
-> Does anyone have any hard data on this?
Meanwhile, sderby@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Stuart P. Derby)
gives some info from Rice University's on-line catalog:
-Author: Wynes, Charles E.
- Title: Charles Richard Drew : the man and the myth /
Charles E. Wynes.
- Published: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1988.
-
-I'll check and see what it says this weekend.
For those who have checked the FAQ, Bruce Tindall, occasional
poster and author of that most august of cheap tomes, _Did
Mohawks Wear Mohawks?_ debunks this UL and also made reference
to the above book. His old post on the topic:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: The Dr. Charles Drew story is back!
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Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 15:04:14 GMT
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An excellent reference to refute the "Drew bled to death because of
racism" story is Charles Wyners's biography, _Charles Richard Drew_
(Univ. of Illinois Press, 1988). He quotes the other doctors who
were in the automobile accident with Drew, as well as a former student
who happened to be at the hospital that night -- all of whom are
black, if that matters -- as saying that the "turned away, bled to
death" story is completely false. They said that the treatment Drew
received was perfectly adequate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry "Bloodless" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division | Internet: TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Talk is cheap and I have
Berkeley, California USA 94720 | a big line of credit.
From vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!avdms8.msfc.nasa.gov!bcm!usenet Mon Jan 31 09:06:54 GMT-0600 1994
Article: 112169 of alt.folklore.urban
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From: sderby@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Stuart P. Derby)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: charles drew: black american, creator of blood plasma
Date: 30 Jan 1994 23:04:04 GMT
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx
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I wrote:
> "BELL,CHRISTOPHER,MR" writes:
>>In a recent article in McGill University's student newspaper,
>>titled: MCGILL ACCUSED OF RACISM FOR NOT REMEMBERING BLACK GRADUATE",
>>the writer states:
>>'Drew's life ended tragically in the forties after a car accident in
>>the southern United States. He died of blood loss at the doors of a
>>hospital which would not admit him because of the color of his skin.
>>Ironically, his own invention could have saved his life.'
> [trimmed]
>> Does anyone have any hard data on this?
>
>Rice U.'s library's on-line card-catalogue has:
>
>Author: Wynes, Charles E.
>
> Title: Charles Richard Drew : the man and the myth / Charles E.
> Wynes.
>
> Published: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1988.
>
>I'll check and see what it says this weekend.
It's this weekend and I checked, the book thoroughly refutes the myth.
Dr. Drew suffered fatal injuries in the wreck. Despite the immediate
attentions of the three other physicians who were with him (two of
whom were substantially uninjured), and prompt attention at a nearby
mixed-race (segregated) hospital, where he was attended by three
other physicians, one of whom was the co-owner of the hospital,
Dr. Drew died from the massive injuries. Included in the treatment
was the administration of "at least one blood transfusion" -
the hospital stocked both whole blood and plasma.
The myth has been widely circulated, including _Time_ magazine.
It also mentions:
"But the story lives on. A McGill University publication, the _McGill
Reporter_, repeated it in its December 1981 issue. Fortunately, it brought
a vigorous denial from Dr. Edward Bensley, professor emeritus of
medicine at McGill, [...]. Part of the evidence that Dr. Bensley had
was a copy of a letter written by Dr. Ford [another black physician
who was with Dr. Drew in the accident], in which Ford tried to lay the
'bled to death' canard to rest."
And later, quoting Dr. Ford:
"Doctor Drew's cause of death was that of a broken neck and complete
blockage of the blood flow back to the heart. Immediately following the
accident in which he was half thrown out of the car, and actually
crushed to death by the car as it turned over the second time, the
doctors who were were able to, got out of the car quickly and came to
Doctor Drew's rescue, but it was of no avail because even at that
time, it was quite obvious that his chances of surviving were nil."
It also notes that the myth was circulating shortly after Dr. Drew's
death, and speculates that it may be a mutation of a myth concerning
Bessie Smith's death in 1937. She also died in a car crash in the South,
and the myth circulated that she had died outside a "white's only"
hospital after being refused admittance. In fact, she was taken
directly to a "black" hospital by the black ambulance driver - half
a mile from the nearby "white" hospital - where she died from
internal injuries. (They amputated one of her arms while trying to
save her, BTW). I guess the myth is just more believable than the
truth somehow.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stu Derby | There's never a Vicki Robinson around when you
sderby@bcm.tmc.edu | need one, despite what Joel says.
Houston, Texas | Note: alt.folklore.urban is a smiley-free zone.
January 25, 1995