Contributor: Eldora Terrell

My contribution is an incident that occurred during my rotation on Dr. Stead's service on one of the private wards. To my amazement, I encountered him sauntering down the hall carrying a full bedpan.

I can't remember what I said, if anything, but I remember his nonchalant comment as he passed, that when he went in to examine his patient he discovered her in great distress because of having been forgotten on the bed pan for a prolonged time. He was on his way to empty it.

This was a lesson I have never forgotten -- none of us is too good to perform the most mundane tasks for those in need.

Title: Another Recollection

Another recollection is that more than 50 years ago Dr. Stead was predicting, to our disbelief, that someday surgery would be possible to eliminate an irritable cardiac focus causing arrhythmia.

His easygoing bedside manner with patients is coming back to me -- another example of teaching by example.

He has always been a masterful teacher, exacting in expectation, intolerant of mediocrity, but with a warm heart, not always readily apparent!