Arthur J. McLean papers

Arthur John McLean - a student of Harvey Cushing, the father of American neurosurgery and Otfried Foerster, the celebrated German neurosurgeon - was Portland’s first trained neurosurgeon. His life was cut short by a tragic accident, but what emerges from the record contrasts his recognized brilliance against the intense drama of his life.

When Dr. McLean died on December 7, 1938, he was just 44 years old and had not yet reached the apex of his career. When his body was found, the wheels of his car hung over the edge of the canyon where it had crashed through a guardrail on N.W. Cornell Road. The car was still running, his body was some 10 feet from the car, and a handkerchief was tied around a deep wound on his head.

Some alleged that McLean had committed suicide while others asserted that McLean would not have taken his life. One Portland physician is quoted as saying, “McLean simply wasn’t the kind to kill himself. He was the sort who would want to stick around, just to prove that all he had said was right” (Oregonian, 1939 February 5). McLean had made enemies and had denounced his opponents fervently. He demanded perfection of himself and of others. Another physician remembers, “... a charge of laxity was perhaps the bitterest accusation that he hurled at his fellow physicians” (Oregonian, 1939 February 5). Some said he had grown bitter and had developed deep prejudices.

McLean was born in Seattle on October 29, 1894. A two-year stint in the military interrupted his education at Reed College, from which he graduated in 1921. The Griffin, Reed’s yearbook, described McLean as “the busiest man on campus ... carrying six subjects was his busines.” He was ever the personification of that term “intellectual enthusiasm.” He went on to receive his M.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1925. He studied neurosurgery with Harvey Cushing, as a neurosurgical resident at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (1925-1929). He was Surgical House Officer (1925-1926); the Arthur Tracy Cabot Fellow, in charge of laboratory research at Harvard Medical School (1926-1927); Associate in Surgery, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (1928-1929); and Acting Resident in Surgery at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (June–September 1929). He then moved to Breslau, Germany with his wife, Gladys Merle Bragg, where he studied from 1929 to 1930, as a George Gorham Peters Traveling Fellow, with Dr. Otfried Foerster. He returned once again to Boston from 1930 to 1931, to serve as a Resident in Surgery before moving to Portland.

In 1931, McLean entered private practice in Portland, opening an office in the Medical Arts Building. He joined the faculty of the University of Oregon Medical School as clinical instructor in Surgery and Neuropsychiatry (1931-1934), assistant professor of pathology (1936-1938), and clinical associate in Surgery and Neuropsychiatry (1934-1937). In 1937, he resigned his position, but at the behest of his colleagues he returned, continuing as Assistant Professor of pathology until 1938, when he once again resigned. He went on to teach, independently, a course for clinicians in Neurological Diagnosis and Neurological Surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital.

From the collection, we know that he gave the impression of being brash, disrespectful, and hot-headed. But the record also portrays a man of reason, who could not stand dishonesty and hated stupidity. His fellow faculty members pronounced him a “brilliant” physician, his teaching work “beautifully” organized, and that he was a “magnetic” person in the eyes of the medical students.

McLean was invited to be one of the charter members of the Harvey Cushing Society. In the Founding book, there is a letter to McLean from William P. Van Wagenen, October 24, 1931, inviting McLean to join as a founder. McLean accepted and Van Wagenen acknowledged his acceptance. Oddly, there is no record to explain why he was never listed as a member. In addition, in the volume A History of Neurosurgery, there is no reference to McLean. Further, it seems that he did not belong to the Society of Neurological Surgeons because he is not listed among their historical figures.

He was accused by some of his detractors of writing nothing new, yet others claimed that his findings were not mere mimicry but based on indisputable and dedicated research. Dr. Cushing appeared to be always supportive of his work: In 1936 Cushing writes to “Mac” and pronounces McLean’s paper on cerebral neuroepithelioma “... a perfectly bang-up piece of work. We are delighted with it ... it is certainly the best worked-up case in the literature.” Cushing encouraged him not to apologize for his youth. Foerster was equally confident and affectionate. He invited him to contribute to his Handbuch der Neurologie in 1936. McLean authored two chapters titled “Intracranial Tumors” and “Pituitary Tumors.” The prevalence of requests for reprints of his papers came from around the world. McLean’s operative record speaks well of his competence as a neurosurgeon. His mortality rate in 55 operations over 6 years was 21.8% and compared well with other leaders in his field. Cushing’s mortality rate in 11 years was 30.9% though in the final years dropped to 8.7%.

In tribute to McLean it was said that “No one, anywhere, ever exemplified a finer loyalty, a more loving nature, the kindliness of his contacts with his students and those who wanted to learn from him was at times emotional in its quality. No one will know, except those who were truly his apostles, how much of himself he gave to teaching. In it he was consumed not by an ideal of self-aggrandizement but by an unquenchable thirst for the truth behind all the didacticism ... Could McLean have achieved a serenity of spirit to match the true greatness of so much of his character, his intellectual and spiritual stature might have been limitless. But he had very strong prejudices and feelings and had developed a deep prejudice ... Dr. Arthur McLean leaves accomplishments which will dwarf the best of his detractors. In the proper setting, with more wisdom and understanding on the part of his associates, he could, had he conquered his small bitternesses, have become a world figure.”

According to his attorney, his affairs were in order down to the smallest detail. His undated will drew national attention: “To 95 percent of Portland’s medical practitioners and their ethics, and the whole local organized medical profession, a lusty, rousing belch. To Portland’s thieving patients, the haphazard care they will receive for their chiseling tawdriness. I desire that there be no funeral service of any sort; that the eleventh stanza of Swinburn’s ‘Garden of Proserpine’ and the entire ‘Thanatopsis’ of Bryant be read aloud over my body by a lay person; that my cremated body’s ashes be strewn by a paid employee on the waters of the straits of San Juan de Fuca.”

His wife, Gladys Merle Bragg McLean, his parents Mr. and Mrs. Calvin McLean of Seattle, and two brothers Edward K. of Seattle and Chester A. of Alaska survived him.

(Reference: Western Journal of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, edited by Dr. Goodrich C. Schauffler, vol. 46, 1938)