SMCMA 1905-2005

A Memorable Journey

I t must have seemed a far-fetched notion in 1905. San Mateo County was sparsely populated; only a few doctors had settled here, and there wasn’t a real hospital in sight.

But 16 of these hardy medical souls met in San Mateo that September to sign the charter and make it official. The San Mateo County Medical Society was organized to “promote the science and art of medicine and to conserve and promote public health.” Harry G. Plymire, M.D., of South San Francisco was named the first president. (Since then there have been 73 physicians elected president, several more than once, and three of them female: Erma C. Macomber, M.D., 1944; Jane B. Marmor, M.D., 1994-1995; and the current president, Michelle B. Caughey, M.D., 2005-2006.)

Among the first to sign the charter was a young physician who had come to San Mateo just months before, Norman D. Morrison, Sr., M.D. To build his practice, Dr. Morrison traveled along the county’s dirt roads by horse and buggy on house calls. As a general practitioner, he treated all variety of maladies, some quite serious: scarlet fever, diphtheria, and typhoid fever. Not surprisingly, Dr. Morrison was as popular with his fellow physicians as he was with his patients—he had the only microscope in the county.

In a few years these medical men were faced with a worldwide scourge: the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918. Within less than a month of the county’s first case being reported, 2000 cases were diagnosed and hospitals were full to overflowing. There was little to be done but let the contagion run its course. Tuberculosis was another disease that was afflicting San Mateo residents at the turn of the century. Treatments took many months and several sanitariums opened in the county to house patients. It wasn’t until the introduction of streptomycin in 1944 that a quick cure was possible.

Early Medical Society meetings were small with just six to 10 in attendance. Members were concerned with such topics as medical quackery and setting fee schedules. They presented scientific papers to share updated medical information. By the time the Society celebrated its Golden Anniversary in 1955, the membership had skyrocketed to 400. Dr. Norman Morrison was still practicing at age 79. “Two days is all I can stand to be inactive or away from my practice,” he said at the time. “It’s my life and a good one at that.” After WWII, doctors from the area returned and many new doctors came as well, including specialists, who previously had been in short supply in the county.

With 150 or so physicians in attendance, the town-hall style meetings became difficult to manage, and the format of the Medical Society was restructured around working committees and smaller meetings. In view of increased responsibilities in medicine, meeting topics turned more to public relations, health insurance, narcotics, and labor relations.

Although it had been of concern for years, it was in the 1950s that infantile paralysis reached epidemic proportions. Again a sense of helplessness permeated the county and the medical community. In 1954 the county’s polio rate was 109 percent higher than the national average.1 Polio patients were cared for at San Mateo County Community Hospital in an isolation ward organized by Harold D. Chope, M.D., director of county public health and welfare. To everyone’s relief, the Salk and oral Sabin vaccines controlled the threat. Dr. Chope coordinated distribution of the vaccines in San Mateo County with the help of physician and nurse volunteers.

The second half of the century brought new opportunities and challenges—some of which elude solution even now.

The 1960s saw the introduction of Medicare and Medi-Cal and Professional Standards Review Organizations (PSROs), with their accompanying funding and autonomy concerns, and the incorporation of medical practices.

The development of a telephone answering service and the Health Care Foundation of San Mateo County were Society projects in the 1970s, and in 1975 physicians began to grapple with the looming malpractice insurance crisis.

Influencing legislation became a major focus in the 1980s and 1990s with the proliferation of HMOs and finding cures for AIDS, not to mention cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and so on. Costly new drugs and improved procedures are saving lives and livelihoods every day and the search goes on. Hospitals in the county face retrofitting requirements to meet earthquake standards and new clinics are scheduled to open.

As the 21st century evolves, the member physicians of the Medical Society, since 1992 the Medical Association, have every reason to celebrate. As did the past, the future will challenge and thrill and reward. 

1. Svanevik M., Burgett, S. A Century of Medicine in San Mateo County, 2005 p.46.