IN REMEMBRANCE : T . Bodley Stites , MD September 6 , 1931-March 20 , 2023
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was stalling - or prolonging - the physical examination to the best of my MS-3 ability . I added neuro and musculoskeletal elements I might otherwise neglect . My father hovered , observing near the foot of the table for 15 minutes . I could sense him wavering forward . Finally , I asked a question about the patient ’ s thyroid finding . He sprang into action for an additional 20-plus minutes of Comprehensive Physical Examination . The patient ate it up .
The patients of Temple Bodley Stites , MD , self-selected . They could expect delays in the waiting room , old National Geographic and New Yorker issues at hand . Some would opt out , but those who endured knew they had his full focus and the time they needed . He kept the practice of a bygone era into this century .
Bodley grew up in Old Louisville before moving to the Highlands after the flood of 1937 . He attended Male High School before Episcopal High School in Alexandria , Virginia . He graduated from Williams College in 1953 , then earned his medical degree at Columbia . He served as an Army doctor in Korea then completed his internal medicine residency at Bellevue in New York . He returned home to practice medicine in 1963 .
He was active on the medical staff at Norton Hospital , serving as the Secretary / Treasurer and President . He also saw patients at Methodist , Jewish , Suburban and University Hospitals . He was an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UofL . He taught ( other ) medical students Physical Examination , was a preceptor and lecturer to internal medicine residents . He authored a case series on ACE inhibitor cough that the New England Journal of Medicine did not accept . He served on Norton ’ s Indigent Care Committee and volunteered at The Healing Place .
For 40 years he kept calligraphic paper charts at his ( mostly ) solo private practice in Medical Towers South . He made house calls and visited nursing homes . He treated patients with humility and humor - one dietary instruction sheet suggested gruel . He sought each person ’ s humanity .
In retirement and his struggle with Parkinson ’ s , he benefited from the care of doctors he had helped to mentor . With his wife of 54 years by his side , he passed away March 20 , 2023 . He is sorely missed .
-Thomas P . Stites , MD
DR . STITES WAS A GLMS MEMBER FOR 60 YEARS .
20 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE