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Metadata
Asset Name:
E005018 - Bartlett, John Richard (1934 - 2014)
Title:
Bartlett, John Richard (1934 - 2014)
Author:
Richard Gullan
Identifier:
RCS: E005018
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2014-02-24

2014-06-06
Description:
Obituary for Bartlett, John Richard (1934 - 2014), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Bartlett, John Richard
Date of Birth:
18 January 1934
Date of Death:
6 January 2014
Titles/Qualifications:
BChir Cambridge 1958

MB 1959

FRCS 1966
Details:
John Richard Bartlett was a consultant neurosurgeon at the Brook Hospital, Woolwich, and later at King's College Hospital, London. He was born on 18 January 1934, the son of Justin Bartlett, a GP in Saffron Walden, and his wife Elsie (née Wright), who was also a doctor. Aged 10, he was given a book *The boy electrician*, which led to a lifelong passion for science. His grandmother gave him the plates and box cameras used by his grandfather Sir John Kirk during explorations in Africa with Livingstone in the 1860s: this started a lifelong interest in photography. In 1947 he went to Radley College. There he considered becoming an engineer, but as his grandfather, both parents, and an aunt were doctors and an uncle, Sir Almroth Wright, was engaged in medical research, he was led inexorably to medicine. At Radley he was introduced to rowing, his main sport during school and college years. He read natural sciences at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and completed his clinical training at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1958. He was appointed house surgeon to Sir Arthur Porritt. John decided to pursue a career in neurosurgery after completing a junior post at the Midland Centre for Neurosurgery, working for Edwin Robert Bickerstaff and Jack Morton Small, and a nine-month spell at the Birmingham Accident Hospital with William Gissane and P S London. He obtained his FRCS in 1966. His neurosurgical training started with Richard Turner Johnson and John Dutton in Manchester, where he was highly influenced by the very positive and active operative teaching. Johnson had great confidence in John's surgical abilities. This was demonstrated when, during a period of absence from the unit, he asked John to look after his private patients. He then moved to the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, to complete his training with Joe Pennybacker and John Potter. The senior neurosurgeon at the neurosurgical unit in the Brook Hospital, Woolwich, Geoffrey Knight retired. His main interest was the treatment of affective disorders, especially depressive illness, with a modified frontal leucotomy technique, performing a subcaudate tractotomy using stereotactically placed Yttrium-99 seeds. While the consultant post on offer was not entirely to his liking, Pennybacker encouraged him to 'go for it', confident that John would, with his excellent surgical skills, soon do the sort of neurosurgery he really wanted to pursue! So in January 1971 he was appointed to the Brook and started work alongside George Northcroft and John Gibbs. John, having been one of the first neurosurgeons from the UK to study microsurgery with Gazi Yasargil in Zurich, brought microsurgery to the Brook. He also developed the use of the cavitron ultrasonic surgical aspirator (CUSA) and laser, relatively new to neurosurgical practice, in his tumour surgery. He remained committed to psychosurgery and, with Paul Bridges, a consultant psychiatrist, published extensively. This surgical practice aroused much controversy, but despite sometimes extremely aggressive hostility from those determined to see this work stopped, they remained strong advocates for the patients, all refractory to every other method of treatment. They knew this type of treatment was a 'last resort'. However, they saw and showed that it helped many to be freed from institutional care. The procedure went on to become a factor in the development of the functional neurosurgery of today. John received the bronze award in the 1988 BMA film and video competition, for his video *Psychosurgery: a last resort*, a stimulus for a *QED* science programme broadcast on BBC2 in March 1990. 'JRB' trained numerous doctors. His qualities - enthusiasm, honesty, clarity of thought, desire for high standards and commitment to training - influenced many trainees in the development of their careers. He engendered respect and affection from all in the unit, irrespective of position. John was an excellent clinician, in the style of a good neurologist, taking a careful and probing 'history', really listening to the patient, and examining them sensitively and carefully - looking for little clues, however small. Policies and protocols were not for him! 'Why go to medical school unless it's to learn to understand the natural history and pathology of disease and above all think!' But of course managing complex conditions involves far more than this. 'You can make a diagnosis, but what are you going to do about it?' he would often say. With his absolute passion for science in its broadest sense and his supreme logic, he would work out from 'basic principles' the best way to solve the task at hand (a message he would frequently convey to his own children when helping them with their homework!), all done under a beguiling veil of calm kindness and empathy. He would weigh up with precision the optimum treatment for each individual, fully taking into account the real and often forgotten limitations of modern neurosurgery at its best, and also the limitations that might exist for the patient. He was involved in several major publications on the use of CT scanning in its infancy, the Brook unit having one of the very first CT scanners in the world. Economic evaluation and implications of the CT scanner were undertaken, resulting in two papers in the *British Medical Journal* with, amongst its authors, John Banham (subsequently knighted and later the director general of the Confederation of British industry) ('A clinical study of the EMI scanner: implications for provision of neuroradiological services.' *Br Med J*. 1978 Sep 16;2[6140]:813-5, 'Evaluating cost-effectiveness of diagnostic equipment: the brain scanner case.' *Br Med J.* 1978 Sep 16;2[6140]:815-20). Further publications on MRI scanning demonstrated its huge potential and the revolution it would cause, particularly in spinal imaging and diagnosis. John's visionary fascination for modern technology was exemplified as computers became available. He spent many happy hours with his four children, trainees and colleagues, learning to manage systems and develop programs. This resulted in the computerisation of the neurosurgical unit clinical records system well in advance of other centres. Senior colleagues recognised John as an outstanding surgeon. His results (regular audits were carried out) spoke for themselves. His anaesthetic colleagues loved working for him because there were no 'unexpected moments of excitement'. As he would say 'if things seem exciting it always strikes me that perhaps something has gone wrong'. As a trainee one would think this was easy, just as we all do when we watch any world-class musician or sportsman at work! For much of his career there was political indecision and uncertainty over the future of the Brook unit. Many options were considered, some in great detail, producing considerable tension between the various parties involved. John fought with total honesty for what he believed was right for his department, neurosurgery and above all his patients. He gained the respect of those he fought. Almost 30 years after the initial Ministry of Health meeting in 1967 to rationalise neurosurgical provision for the Metropolitan Regions, the Brook unit was amalgamated with the Guy's/Maudsley unit within King's College Hospital in 1995 to form a single neuroscience centre for south east London, East Sussex and Kent. Once established in King's as the senior consultant neurosurgeon, he showed great leadership and was determined to make the unit flourish, despite all the past conflict and the bitter last minute decision to cancel the construction of a new purpose-built unit that had been fully designed and should have opened on the Maudsley site in 1995. He rapidly engaged with his new colleagues to help create major services for pituitary and acoustic neuroma surgery. John was president of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons from 1996 to 1998, at a time when there was much need for change. He was instrumental in revising the Society's constitution and structure to make it fit for purpose as a rapidly modernising specialty within the NHS. He was a good president - he listened, showed fine judgement and great determination. He became an associate of the Royal Photographic Society in 1993, when he presented a panel of pictures depicting daily life in the Brook Hospital. In retirement photography became his main hobby. Many people will remember him with his camera around his neck and seeing exhibitions of his work, often carried out on holidays in 'remote' places. He was president of the Bromley Camera Club for its centenary year and London organiser for the Royal Photographic Society. He always had time for anyone who was starting out on their photographic adventure and would give what help he could, teaching all four of his children use of the camera, the darkroom, the principles of light and composition, and being rewarded by three of them taking up professional careers in photography and film. John Bartlett was a special person. He was first and foremost a committed doctor who displayed a passion for the welfare and care of his patients and secondly a neurosurgeon. He fulfilled that latter role with vision and determination, tempered by great modesty, grace and humility. He died on 6 January 2014, aged 79, from prostate cancer. He was supported throughout by his devoted wife Cilla, a pillar of strength to him at every stage of his glowing career, and his deeply loved four children and grandchildren.
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Image Copyright (c) Image provided for use with kind permission of the family
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
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Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005000-E005099
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