Cover image for
Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E005805 - Cadzow, William Hamilton (1931 - 2013)
Title:
Cadzow, William Hamilton (1931 - 2013)
Author:
Marilyn Bitomsky
Identifier:
RCS: E005805
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2014-08-15

2015-02-27
Description:
Obituary for Cadzow, William Hamilton (1931 - 2013), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Cadzow, William Hamilton
Date of Birth:
26 July 1931
Date of Death:
13 September 2013
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MB BS Queensland 1955

FRCS 1961

FRACS 1964
Details:
Dr William Hamilton Cadzow, who was senior visiting urologist at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital from 1986 to 2001, died on 13 September. Bill was a urologist at that hospital almost continuously from 1966 until his full retirement 40 years later. Bill gained his MB BS from the University of Queensland in 1955, FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons England in 1961, and FRACS from Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1964. Bill's distinguished career included resident medical officer at Brisbane General Hospital 1956-57, government medical officer at Finschaven and Talasea in Papua New Guinea 1958-59, resident surgical officer at Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary 1960-61, surgical registrar at St Thomas's Hospital in London 1962, consultant surgeon at Port Moresby Hospital 1963, urology registrar at Royal Brisbane Hospital 1964-66, visiting urologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital 1966-86, consultant urologist at Al Hada Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia 1986, senior visiting urologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital 1986-2001, and emeritus consultant in urology at Princess Alexandra Hospital 2001-07. Bill was born in Brisbane on 26 July 1931. When a teenager, he became a member of the formidable *Quiz kids*, a national radio quiz show presented by John Dease during the 1940s and 50s. Bill enjoyed a challenge, nowhere more evident than in his early career in the tiny outpost of Talasea in New Britain. The population there in the late 1950s was seven, including children. Food and other supplies arrived by sea. The nearest airstrip was two days' travel away. The operating theatre was a small thatched building. Anaesthesia was supplied by ether. As there was no reliable electricity supply, lighting was by gas lamps despite the risk of a "big pela" explosion. It was in this operating theatre that he successfully removed stingray barbs that had penetrated 15 cm into the liver of a seven-year-old child. He wrote an article about this which was published in the *Medical Journal of Australia*. In 1987, after a year working in Saudi Arabia, he visited the Dornier establishment in Munich where he researched equipment later to be purchased by Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital, which on his advice became the first public hospital in Queensland to obtain a lithotripter. Bill was erudite without being a know-all. He loved to read - history, biographies, novels, short stories, and poetry. Very few other 82-year-olds could flawlessly recite "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or "Clancy of the Overflow". Bill taught many of today's senior urologists. He was an endlessly patient and generous teacher, not just in urology but in other pursuits such as photography, fishing, and woodwork. He was very serious about his work, taking pride in doing the best possible job for his patients. For the last few years, Bill suffered a rare neurological condition, progressive supranuclear palsy. Bill's wife, Marilyn Bitomsky, and his daughters with first wife Diana - Jane, Elizabeth, Belinda, and Susan - feel a huge void in their lives with his death.
Sources:
*In Memoriam* www.surgeons.org/member-services/in-memoriam
Rights:
Republished by kind permission of the President and Council of The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
Media Type:
Unknown