CHICAGO DAILY NEWS, Monday, Se@ ,&` `t-$4'
            _---

Surge6n is;hO separated Siamese M.IM
:pqg$$ for; guidance before each operation
       ,, `. 3


Dr.. C. Everett Koop

led the surgical team that SUcCeSsfUlly separated Siamese twins Clara and Alta Rndrj@ez
               last week in an &hour operation.


By Arthuk J. Snider  Dofly New! Scle~e ?3%pP
                     _
The' `first dt of Slatne& *ins seen in `lSsS!dg DT. C.
Everett Koop frightened him so much he dreamed fhe al@
before the operation of making the wrong incision and Firind+
ing hp with two babies, each with the leg of the other.
But no such terror gripped him last Wednesday when in
an elght-hour operation he separated Clara and Alta Rod-
riguet of the Dominican pepublic, the third such-joined twins
in history to be successfully parted.
He attributes his self-possession to 18 more years of ex-
perience plus what he calls "my anchor - a coinplete b","ief
in the sovereignty of God.
"Having that, knowing that someone else is running the
show," he says, "gives me a tremendous amount of com-
fort."

BEFORE FAST WEEK'S surgery, as before every one of
the thousands of operations he has performed, the 57-year-
old Surgeon prays for guidance.
A few days earlier, he had been in Wheaton to attend the
annual board meetihg of the Medical Assistance PxQgram
(MAP), a missionary org&ization of which he is vice chair-
man.

The proceedings were interrupted as Dr. Koop asked for
the prayers of the .board members and Staff in the Siamese
operation.

Dr. Koop, one of the world's foremost pediatric surgeons,
ie also one of the foremost exponents of spiritualism in
medicine.

"If I had to go through life thinking that all the clay-by-day
decisions I make about patients were up to chance and mY
own lnfalllbility, I would become VerY discouraged," he
states.

As surgeon in-chief of the University of PHuISYiVa~ia Chll-
dren's Hospital, a court of last resort for Youngsters wlth
cancer, birth defects and injuries, he is faced dally will? ' le
and death decisions.

HE RELIEVES THE LEAST bearable loss for any faGlilY
iS a child who dies of an incurable illness. Death from &t

. .-- --

accident or gross deformity are anguishing but to watch a
child die slowly 1s torture.

This has led him to devote much time and thought to
dealing with parents who Suffer.
He has made it a rule tb be at the bedside when the end is
near so that the parents won't feel the child has been aban-
doned. This Sometimes means returning to the hospital night
after night.
"I have learned that the worst moment for parents is
when they understand that the child's condition Is grave,"
he says. "It is certainly worse than death itself for by that
time they will have becolne reconciled to its in&ability."
When the outcome appears'inevltable, Dr. Koop t&eS it
- upon hImielf to ihform the parents rather than leave it to a
resident or an assistant. '

The information fS given` in a private room, his office, a
quiet lounge, but never in a corridor or lobby or any place
where a famlly cannot let their emotions be demonstrated
without enibatrassment. Usually, he will hold the hands of
both parents as they sit facing him.

HE TRfES TO LEAVE A ray of hope, remembering an
incident early in his career when he operated on a large
cancer that was impossible to remove entirely.
He told the parent the situation appeared to be out of

CUIIL~UI ano mat 11 me cnila were nls, ce would not subject
him to the pain of further treatment but take "" home and
make his death as comfortable as possible.
The patient,is an adult now and at the, la.4 exahination
showed no evidence bf disease.
"There'are enough spontaneous remissions (self-cures) to
leave the door open just a crack;`[`he says, "btit at the same
time one must be careful qot to, arouse false expectations
because the parents' d&pair will&e even greater.".
*HEN THE QUESTIONS ARE <asked Why did God do
this to my child?" or "What have we done to be punished
like this?" or if th+ere is indicaticin of a guilt feeling, Dr.
Koop expresses his own beliefs in the "sovereignty of God
that has sustained me through my years of practice."

When he reminds parents that the child's fate, even death,
is in the hands of God, they are relieved of personal respon-
sibility and guilt.

Dr. Koop has know death in his own family. A few years
&go, his ZO-year-old son fell when hit by an avalanche while
rock-climbing, landed on a ledge 700 feet high and bled to
death.
"The result of this act of God, ihich the world calls an
accident, was indescribeable grief for my wife gnd me, our
daughter and other two Sons," he explains. "There are Still
days when 1, see or hear something that takes'me back to
that boy's childhood and once again I. am overwhelmed with
grief.

"But through it all, each member of our family had faith
that God knew what He was doing when He took our Son. We
%ere, at the time of David's death, all committed Chris-
tians. What this seeming tragedy did in the lives of each of
LIB was to lock US in the direction in which God had pointed
us."

A COLLEAGUE WHO ATTENDED the memorial service
recalls that "Dr. and Mrs:Koop were comforting all of us
kvho had come to comfort them."
i This deep calm permeates every aspect of the surgeon's
life, personal, social and professional.
: His long-time friend, Ray Knighton, president of MAP,
says, "One mostly hears of doctors who are not ethical but
J;eldom about a man like this who has reached the pe?i-: z :
@is profession, is a biblical scholar who teaches clasitl.
elder in his church, an orator who is in demand as ti. ; ::
@eacher and a gifted writer who could make a living tiirh
Pis pen.
H "By age 45 he had achieved every award possible and now
,jhe wants to devote the rest of his life to giving himself to
ipeople. Few know he is supporting individuals all over the
[world. He must be giving three-fourth of his income to chari-

1' y."

i DR.KOOP JOINED MAP'ABOUT thetimeitwas founded
Y"by accident" about 20 years ago by Knighton in Chicago.
An Eastern pharmaceutical company was seeking to give
rway excess drugs to a charity and someone suggested call-
nng Knighton who was an executive. in the Christian Medical
`Assn. "and knows every missionary in the world."
I  Dozens of cartons reached Knighton's Loop office. He
t moved desks and chairs into the hallway to make room and
1 began contacting medical friends.
The gift led Knighton to wondering whether other phar-
imaceutical companies had drugs to give away and the medi-
lcal assistance program was born. In 20 years, more than
{$lQO million in medicines and supplies have been shipped to
    hospitals and clinics in 82 developing countries.
Doctors frequently volunteer their vacation `time td go
   Dr. Koop has made so many trips he'has come to be
      modern Schweitzer."
I But he quickly files a disclaimer. "The only resemblance
[is that 1 also have a beard," he says.
I
.