Medical History Museum Highlighted
Feb 24, 2010
To visit the Medical History Museum Website visit:
Medical history, in person and in museum pieces
BY EVAN WILLIAMS ewilliams@floridaweekly.com
Dr. Roger Scott, 83, was the first of his kind in Fort Myers, a board-certified general surgeon. Along the way, he was witness to the closing of the last segregated hospital in the United States, located in Fort Myers, as well as a progression of medical technology such as CT scans and MRIs. But before he began to use that technology to help treat patients, Dr. Scott honed his ability to make diagnoses the old-fashioned way.
“It was by sight and touch and smell,” he said.
He began a private practice in Fort Myers in the summer of 1958, and retired from performing surgeries in 2005. Reflecting back on 47 years in service to the health of the community, he feels it went well, mostly.
“I really think God was good to me, I really do,” Dr. Scott said. “Because I was very fortunate to have very few patients die. So my father picked the right thing for me, there’s no question about it.”
But he also admitted, “There were two or three people that died who probably wouldn’t have died, my wife being one of them, if we had the technology. But that’s history, and we learn from it.”
Memories of many of his patients are sharp and clear. That includes a local attorney, now in his 60s, who Dr. Scott treated for a head injury more than 40 years ago. Recently they argued about the memory.
“I went and got his cotton pickin’ record out,” Dr. Scott said. “And he apologized.”
In recent years, he has continued his work compiling artifacts and antiques related to his profession. Dr. Scott is a medical historian who has curated a remarkable breadth of medical tools, photographs and other pieces. The collection spans many years and types of procedures in local and American medical history. It will be made available to students, teachers and the public for the first time at Edison State College in Fort Myers, starting this summer. Dr. Scott co-founded The Museum of Medical History with Dr. Jacob Goldberger. Just one feature of the exhibits will be a complete 1928 operating room.
The museum will be a legacy for a man who is a living piece of medical history himself. The youngest of five children, Dr. Scott grew up in Polk County. One of Dr. Scott’s brothers was a dentist in Jacksonville. Another brother was once an OB/GYN in Miami.
“He was a genius,” Dr. Scott said “I was just kind of mediocre when I came along.”
After attending military school through the 12th grade, he was all but accepted to the United States Military Academy. At the time they wouldn’t take a man who wore glasses, however.
“They wanted perfect men,” Dr. Scott said.
At the urging of his father, he took premed courses at the University of Virginia, then spent five years earning his M.D. at the University of Maryland, followed by two years practicing medicine in the Air Force. He knew a friend who helped him start a practice in Fort Myers.
“I’m a true general surgeon,” he said. “True meaning I came to Fort Myers with the anticipation that I could do anything that needed to be done with the human body.”
Dr. Scott now lives in Fort Myers. One old photograph in his collection shows him at a childhood home, sitting on the porch eating watermelon with a childhood friend in the 1930s. If you’ve ever read “Huckleberry Finn,” the photograph brings that story to mind. It was near the places where his father had run a sawmill, been banker and exported lumber.
“He was a businessman, basically,” Dr. Scott said. “I didn’t have the knack for that. So he said ‘why don’t you study medicine? And I said, ‘OK.’ Daddy was a smart man and anytime he spoke, I listened. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I loved it.” Â
Last Updated: February 24, 2010
Back to News Archives