Vital Times 2019 - 112

CME also began to use the Los Angeles County
Hospital for clinical clerkship rotations. When
the AMA tried to penalize CME in the 1910s for
encroaching on an already-used clinical site, P.T.
Magan, M.D. (1867-1947), then-Dean of CME,
successfully argued that the L.A. County Hospital
was large enough to provide clinical material for
three medical schools: CME, the University of
Southern California (USC), and the College of
Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, which
would later become the UC Irvine (UCI) School
of Medicine.
CME was only 17 years old when Leffingwell began
his studies there, and he graduated in the Class
of 1933. Tuition for CME remained low due to
a cooperative work program that spanned a vast
network of county and private hospitals throughout
Southern California. Medical students worked
every other month at various hospitals, generating
sufficient revenue for the school.

Forrest Leffingwell's Career
After medical school, Leffingwell first practiced
General Medicine for seven years (1933-40)
in Montebello, CA. Increasingly drawn to
anesthesiology during a pioneering era, but lacking
formal residency training options in California,
Leffingwell chose to complete a Fellowship in
Anesthesiology at White Memorial from 1940-41.
At the end of his anesthesia training, Leffingwell,
who was in the Army Reserve Corps, was called to
active duty. He served in Santa Barbara, Fort Sam
Houston, and Modesto, before being deployed in
January 1944 to New Guinea as Chief of Anesthesia
and Operating Section of the CME-sponsored 47th
General Hospital. 3 A year later, he was sent to the
Philippines as Chief of Anesthesia and Operating

112 | CSA Vital Times

Section of the 80th General Hospital, the main U.S.
Army hospital in Manila. 3 Writing to McKinnie
L. Phelps, M.D., Secretary of the ASA, on May
26, 1945, Leffingwell described his team's varied
anesthetic technique for "a very active surgical
service":
Inhalational agents consist of nitrous oxide,
oxygen and ether... More than 50% of our
work is done under regional blocks of every
sort including spinals for cases other than the
acute battle casualties. Our experience is that
the incidence of shock in such cases is greatly
increased even with minimal [spinal] dosage.
Pentothal is used in large quantities both alone
and in combination with regional blocks. 5
Leffingwell's administrative skill was rewarded
with an appointment as Consultant in Anesthesia
for the Western Pacific Theater until he returned to
the United States in November 1945.
When Leffingwell returned to California,
he became Director of the Department of
Anesthesiology at White Memorial Hospital and
Senior Attending Anesthesiologist at Los Angeles
County Hospital. He then served as Professor and
Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology of CME
from 1947-1969.
While Leffingwell did not consider himself an
academician, publishing only four articles during
his lifetime, he gained national recognition for
his strength of character, unfailing wisdom,
clear-eyed objectivity, administrative skill, and
love for people. 4, 6 He was a Trustee of the Wood
Library-Museum. In addition, he was actively
involved with the Los Angeles County Medical
Association (LACMA), the California Medical
Association (CMA), and the California Society of
Vital Times 2019

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