Background
Paul RamseyHawley was born on January 31, 1891 in West College Corner, Indiana, United States. He was the son of William Harry Hawley, a doctor, and Sabina Cora Ramsey.
Paul RamseyHawley was born on January 31, 1891 in West College Corner, Indiana, United States. He was the son of William Harry Hawley, a doctor, and Sabina Cora Ramsey.
After attending local schools Hawley entered Indiana University at Bloomington, but proved so indifferent a student that he flunked out after his sophomore year.
Three A's in medical courses over the summer got him reinstated, and he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912.
Following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, he went on to the University of Cincinnati, where he received the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1914.
Hawley attended the advanced course at the Army Medical School in 1921, received a Ph. D. in public health from Johns Hopkins in 1923, and studied at the Command and General Staff School (1934-1936) and the Army War College (1938-1939).
Succumbing to a yen for adventure, Hawley accepted a first lieutenant's commission as a reserve officer in the Army Medical Corps in August 1916. That October he began an army career that spanned almost thirty years. After completing basic training at the Army Medical School in February 1917, and two short assignments at Fort Thomas and Camp Taylor, Kentucky, Hawley (now a major) went to France in June 1918 as a surgeon with the 334th Infantry Regiment. In the 1920s and 1930s Hawley saw service in various army medical jobs.
From January 1925 to April 1927 he was a surgeon and medical inspector in the Philippines and a surgeon with the Nicaragua Canal Survey of 1929-1931. Although opportunities for promotion came slowly - he did not become lieutenant colonel until 1937 - those for schooling did not.
A few months before Pearl Harbor, Hawley, now a colonel, was sent to England as a special observer. In January 1942 he became chief surgeon for the Army Air Forces there. Promoted to brigadier general in September 1942 and to major general in February 1944, he helped organize medical support for the invasion of France. After D-Day he was named chief surgeon of the European Theatre.
Not only did Hawley efficiently direct a huge organization of medical personnel, but he also showed solicitous regard for the quarter-million sick and wounded under his jurisdiction. He insisted on air evacuation whenever possible and on hospital ships rather than ordinary transports until the U-boat threat subsided.
Upon Hawley's retirement in June 1946, General Omar Bradley, then head of the Veterans Administration (VA), named him chief medical director of the organization. During his tenure in this post, Hawley completely revitalized what had been called "the backwash of American medicine. " Alternately cajoling and threatening both Congress and the American Medical Association (AMA) - the one by threatening to resign and the other by raising the specter of socialized medicine - he secured their cooperation in his program. Appropriations and numbers of doctors, specialists, nurses, and hospitals all increased. Red tape was slashed; training was improved; patient load was increased.
To secure the finest physicians Hawley cut VA doctors free of the civil service and paid them more. When Hawley left the agency to become chief executive officer of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Commission in April 1948, there were physician-residency programs at thirty-two VA hospitals and a functioning outpatient clinic program using local physicians nationwide - both innovations. A $500 million construction program had also been authorized. On March 1, 1950, Hawley became director of the American College of Surgeons, a post he held until he retired in 1961.
Honed by his battles with politicians and bureaucrats, and possessing a streak of natural combativeness, Hawley used his position to expose abuses in the medical profession. He gained nationwide attention in 1953 by denouncing unnecessary surgery, exorbitant fees, and the practices of "fee splitting" (kickbacks from specialists for referrals) and "ghost surgery" (operations performed by doctors other than the specialists whom patients expected). Some segments of the AMA, deploring the notoriety resulting from the charges, attempted to censure Hawley at the 1953 convention, but failed.
Hawley continued to travel and speak widely throughout the 1950s, constantly urging members of his profession to keep their own house in order.
Ever the plain-spoken country doctor, Hawley never outgrew "the atmosphere of responsibility to the patient" in which he was raised.
He died in Washington, following a several years long fight with cancer. His burial with military honors took place at Arlington National Cemetery on November 29, 1965. He is buried in Section 34 Grave 148-A along with his second wife, Lydia.
Paul Ramsey Hawley went down in history as a prominent physician and army officer who took part in three important wars and achieved the rank of major-general. He was given numerous honors and awards for his military service to America. His honorary degrees include: Doctor of Science from Wayne University, Detroit, Michigan; Doctor of Science from Union College; Doctor of Laws from University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; Doctor of Laws from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Doctor of Laws, from Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. ; and Doctor of Laws from University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. The US Army Medical Department Activity at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana was named the Hawley Army Community Hospital when it opened on May 12, 1973.
Hawley opposed national health insurance but was a firm advocate of voluntary, nonprofit health insurance plans. He also favored strict licensing of surgeons and more extensive accreditation of hospitals as ways of insuring the highest quality of medical care for patients.
Quotations: Of his father and grandfather Hawley once said: "To them medicine was never a business. It was a profession to which they were called, like a minister of the gospel. " It was his creed too.
Hawley was a fellow member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the Southern Surgical Association, the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom), the Royal College of Surgeons (United Kingdom), the Royal Society of Medicine (United Kingdom), the American College of Hospital Administrators, l'Academie de Chirugie (France), the American Psychiatric Association, the Colorado Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the Southeastern Surgical Congress, the Columbia Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, Delta Omega, Phi Delta Theta, and Phi Rho Sigma.
On December 20, 1915, after internship at General Hospital in Cincinnati, Hawley married Frances Katherine Gilliland, a dietician. They had two children.
After being divorced in 1951, Hawley married Lydia W. Wright on November 24, 1951.
