VOLUME 31, ISSUE 2

Michelle Mattern, MD

PGY-4 Resident
Baylor Scott & White
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
Temple, TX

Russell K. McAllister, MD

TSA Newsletter Editor
Interim Chair-Anesthesiology Baylor Scott & White Health Central Division
Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology-Texas A&M College of Medicine
Temple, TX

On the Shoulders of Giants: Legends of Texas Anesthesiology
Dr. Claudia Potter
(1881-1970)

Dr. Claudia Potter was born in Denton County Texas on February 3, 1881 as one of eight children. Her father was a farmer and Civil War veteran who valued education greatly. This facilitated her realizing her childhood dream of becoming a physician. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class, and due to a special affiliation between her high school and the University of Texas, was able to enter medical school directly after graduating high school without receiving a separate undergraduate college degree.

Dr. Potter attended UTMB Galveston for medical school and was the only female in her class. A member of the Class of 1904, she was only the sixth female physician to graduate from UTMB. After participating in postgraduate work at the Mayo Clinic, she completed an internship at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. She then entered general practice in San Antonio with another female physician prior to joining Scott & White in 1906.

Her career at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas, known as Temple Sanitarium at that time, began in 1906. She was asked to join Temple Sanitarium by surgeon Arthur C. Scott in 1906 and was paid $25 per month plus room and board. She was the fourth member of the hospital’s medical staff. To better illustrate the adversity faced by women in medicine at the time, we share the following story from Dr. Potter’s memoirs. Upon hearing that Dr. Scott had hired Dr. Potter, Dr. Raleigh White wrote him stating “I will be home soon, for I know you have lost your mind if you have employed a woman physician.” Interestingly, she was placed on probation until the decision was made as to whether she would be acceptable. She described herself as ambitious and anxious to win them over. She described stated that she had faced similar opposition up to that point in her medical training and she had “unlimited energy” to help her overcome the opposition. Dr. White agreed to let her stay, but only on probationary status that would be renewed each month. At the end of the third month, Dr. White informed her that she did not have to report back at the end of each month any longer but that she was still on probation. She stated that, as far as she knew, the probation lasted until July of 1847, when she retired.

Prior to utilizing gas anesthetic she mostly provided open-drop ether as an anesthetic, as the use of chloroform had already fallen out of favor. In 1908 Dr. Potter visited Johns Hopkins University to learn how to administer gas anesthesia. She purchased a machine and was the first physician to provide gas anesthesia in Texas. Regarding nitrous oxide anesthesia Dr. Potter stated, “The induction was more pleasant and recovery more rapid, with very little postoperative nausea or any bad effects.” In 1923 Dr. Potter investigated the used of ethylene gas as an anesthetic and introduced its use at Scott & White as well.

Dr. Potter was also known for being a kind and courteous person and teacher. Surgeon Dr. G.V. Brindley stated, “She was big sister to the nurses, the interns, and the residents.” Dr. Potter devoted her life to the field of anesthesiology. Reminiscing on her practice of anesthesia in those days she stated, “It is surprising how well we succeeded with what we had. Our only equipment was an ether mask and hypodermoclysis [injection of fluids into the subcutaneous tissues…]. No airways, no suction machines, no intratracheal tubes.”

Dr. Potter served as the Head of Department of Anesthesiology at Scott & White for 41 years prior to her retirement in 1947. After retirement she was elected as an honorary member of the Texas Medical Association and was the first woman to receive a “Golden T” award from UTMB honoring her for 50 years of service to medicine.

As Dr. Brindley remarked in 1951, “Dr. Potter was an aggressive pioneer in the field of anesthesia.” She studied and introduced anesthetic practices that were unprecedented in her day. These advances paved the way for many of the modern anesthetic practices we use today. In addition to her contributions in developing the practice of providing a gas-based anesthetic in Texas, she personally accomplished many “firsts” in the field of anesthesia. She is recognized by the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists as the first physician in Texas to use nitrous oxide anesthesia. She is also recognized as the first full-time anesthesiologist of either gender in Texas and the first full-time anesthesiologist documented in the United States. In 1939 she was a co-founder and charter member of the Texas Society of Medical Anesthetists (the early name of the current Texas Society of Anesthesiologists) and served as their president from 1947-1948.

The practice of surgery and anesthesia in those days was unconventional in many ways, and Dr. Potter’s experiences were no exception. Many surgeries took place in patients’ homes, barns, or, once, in a cotton field, as the family’s house was deemed unsanitary. Dr. Potter traveled along with surgeons by horse-drawn carriage, automobile, train, and frequently by small airplane. Her memoirs describe a 1929 flight home after performing a surgery at a distant Texas town. It was after dark and staff members had to light kerosene fires at each corner of the landing strip in order to provide illumination of the field so they could land safely.

Dr. Claudia Potter was not only a pioneer in the field of anesthesia but also a pioneer for female physicians of all specialties. Her dedication to her patients, teaching, and continued learning in an effort to provide safe and effective anesthesia to her patients was remarkable. Dr. Potter practiced anesthesia at Scott & White for 47 years. She passed away on February 2, 1970, a day shy of her 90th birthday. The state of Texas is honored to have been home to Dr. Potter’s long and prestigious career and consider her Texas’ founding anesthesiologist.

References:

  1. Benoit, Patricia K. “Claudia Potter, MD. Narrative for documentation for a Texas State Historical Marker.” Temple, Texas. 1996.
  2. Handbook of Texas Online, Elizabeth Silverthorne, “POTTER, CLAUDIA,” accessed May 16, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpoeq.
  3. Brindley, Dr. G.V. Brindley; Potter, Dr. Claudia. “Scott and White Archives Oral History Collection: Dr. Claudia Potter and Dr. G.V. Brindley, Sr. Relating stories about S&W in the past”. Interview by Michelle Mears. April 1965.
  4. Potter C. Recollections of Anesthesia Practice (1906-1948). From the Scott & White Archives and Published as Appendix II in Historical Notes on the Origin and Development of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists by Charles R. Allen. 1989. Independently published by the TSA.

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