Janet Cathey, an OB/GYN, trained at UAMS, did her residency there and recently taught there. She had back surgery there two years ago. But it was her experience as a 7-year-old in need of heart surgery that has her so distressed about UAMS’ suspension of its heart surgery program.

Cathey was born with a hole in her heart. Her parents, who were living in Missouri at the time, were told kids like her lived to be teenagers and then died. It was the middle of the 1950s, and “nobody operated on hearts then,” she said. Open heart surgery — in which the chest is cracked open — was being done, but it was rare.

Advertisement

Then her father learned that one of the places you could get open heart surgery was Arkansas, where Dr. Masauki Hara was putting what was then called UAMC on the map. Hara lead the open heart team that did the first open heart surgery in Arkansas, in 1957, and the first bypass, in 1958.

Hara repaired Cathey’s heart in 1964.

Advertisement

“Here it was 1964 and I had heart surgery there,” Cathey said. “To see their program was ending was kind of stunning for me.” As a tertiary care hospital, UAMS should be teaching and offering procedures that are done nowhere else in Arkansas, like its high-risk pregnancy program, she said. “To me it’s like saying, OK, we don’t have brain surgeons here. … I’m really worried for the university.”

However, Leslie Taylor, a spokeswoman for UAMS, said the program’s suspension will be short-lived and could be back in business in a couple of weeks. She also said that UAMS is sending its residents who wish to learn cardiothoracic surgery to train at the Arkansas Heart Hospital and Baptist Health.

Advertisement

“UAMS is a huge asset to the state,” Cathey said, but doesn’t get the funding it needs from the legislature. Because of its financial straits, Cathey said, UAMS’ has prioritized clinical care, which generates revenue, over teaching. “The way the clinics are set up now is not conducive for teaching,” Cathy said. The goal now is “to see as many patients as you can.”

Hara, who came to UAMS from Stanford, was suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer when he operated on Cathey. He died four years later, in 1968. It was because of Hara’s illness that Hara protege James Suen decided to go into head and neck cancer, a field in which he is known worldwide. Suen cofounded the Arkansas Cancer Research Center.

Advertisement

Cathey was on faculty at UAMS for the past four years but resigned last year. She headed up the gender clinic there; now she is setting up a clinic for LGBT patients at Planned Parenthood in Little Rock.

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article With no one to take doctor’s place, UAMS suspends heart surgery Next article Arkansas DHS to take over two nursing homes from faltering national chain Skyline