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To this day, Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig is known as one of the most
influential and pioneering women in medicine. She is considered the founder of pediatric cardiology, the study of heart disease in children, yet so few people know who she was or what she represented during a period when it was almost impossible for a woman to become a doctor.
If you had met Helen Taussig in her later years, she would have greeted you with warm blue eyes and her bright smile. A strong and slender woman, she might have seemed somewhat shy at first. But her gentle voice so full of enthusiasm soon would have dispelled any doubt that she was a truly special person. She hated being called "doctor" Taussig, and she always reminded people, "You must learn to call me Helen." Yet through her modesty, you could see that she was a true fighter. Indeed, it was her unrelenting determination that allowed her to touch the lives of millions of children by solving the mystery of the so called "blue babies". What are blue babies, the children whom Helen Taussig called her little "crossword puzzles"? Let's start from the beginning.
Nothing ever came easily for young Helen. Born on May 24, 1898, in Cambridge Mass., Helen Taussig was the youngest of four children. Helen was always a frail and sick child. Back in those days, there were many dangerous diseases, and Helen was infected with one called tuberculosis. Because of her illness, Helen was forced to skip many days at school. To make matters worse, she was found to have a reading disability called dyslexia. To the dismay of her father, Helen's report cards were never good.
Luckily for Helen, her father had much patience. In addition, he was highly regarded as a renowned Harvard economist and an advisor to President Woodrow Wilson. Helen spent many hours with her father, going through lessons in math, science, and most importantly, reading. Often times her lessons ended in frustration and tears, as Helen, because of her dyslexia, would read all the words backwards!
Helen also spent much time with her mother whom she loved very much. Mrs. Taussig always had complete confidence in young Helen, never doubting that she would grow up to be a strong and brilliant woman. Little did she know of Helen's troubles in school however, for Mr. Taussig never told her. Unfortunately, Helen's mother was also always very sick. She was almost bedridden and needed constant attention. Mr. Taussig thought that it would be too much of a stress to burden her with the news of Helen's shortcomings.
In spite of her poor performance, not once did Helen' s father show any disappointment. Young Helen, on the other hand, felt more and more frustrated. With each passing day she fell further behind in school. Even worse was seeing how her classmates were able to read such interesting books and fun stories. Helen was determined to catch up one day. However Helen did have many pleasant times as a child. She especially enjoyed the summer months spent at the family's cottage in Cape Cod. Every morning after breakfast, Helen would go down to the ocean to search for sea creatures. This was because Mr.Taussig insisted that he be left alone to his own work in the morning and Helen's lessons never began before noon. But after lunch was over, the rest of Helen's day was devoted to study and helping Mrs. Taussig.
Then came a very sad day for Helen. She was only eleven years old when her mother suddenly developed a fever and became more and more ill. The doctors were puzzled and tried desperately to help her. But despite their efforts Helen's mother could not fight the illness. Young Helen was grief stricken when her mother passed away. It wasn't until later that the doctors found that she too had tuberculosis and suddenly developed pneumonia. Helen, like the doctors, felt angry at how little was known about helping people who were sick. Nonetheless, Helen admired those doctors who had tried their best to help her mother, if only by holding hands. From that time onward, Helen dreamed of one day being able to help those, who like her mother, were suffering from illness. Perhaps, thought Helen, she could become a doctor.
Helen always remembered her mother's great courage which served as an
inspiration in years to come. Helen knew she had to improve in school. Despite her difficulties with dyslexia and after many long hours of practice and help from her father, she became an excellent reader. Helen gradually became a better student, and eventually she found herself at the top of her class. Having overcome her difficulties with learning to read, Helen was determined to realize her dream of becoming a doctor.
Ultimately, Helen was accepted into college at Radcliffe college. After two years at Radcliffe she transferred to the University of California where she finished her degree in May of 1921. Just as she had hoped, Helen found that she loved the sciences, and with her curious and insightful mind, she made top honors in all her classes. Upon graduation she wanted to take her education a step further, unlike most women at the time. Upon her return home from college, she wanted to become a doctor more than anything else.
Helen found little support. At that time, there were few medical schools in America that accepted women at all. Even Helen's father, a professor at Harvard University, assured her that the Harvard Medical School was not about to make any exceptions. Most women back then were expected to get married and "settle down" without ever pursuing their interests. Helen's father advised her to look into a career in public health since it was much more suitable for a woman. He suggested that she make an appointment to see a very important man named Dr. Rosenau who was the dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. Helen felt deeply disappointed. But what else could she do? She had to listen to her father. On the morning of her interview with Dr. Rosenau, Helen nervously dressed herself in her most professional clothes. She was very courteous during her interview and spoke with Dr. Rosenau about the field of public health. But when she showed her desire to study at the school, the reply she received was both shocking and insulting. She was told that because she was a woman, she would be allowed to study public health at the school but would never be granted a degree. Helen felt infuriated. She could no longer hide her feelings. Boldly, Helen asked, "Dr.Rosenau, who is going to be such a fool as to spend two years studying . . . and not get a degree?"
The dean of the school merely looked at her smugly and replied, "No one, I
hope." Helen quickly responded, "Dr. Rosenau, I will not be the first to disappoint you!"
Helen returned home that day in tears. She felt cheated and angry at how unfairly she was treated simply because she was a woman. Helen realized then that, regardless of what others said, even her father, she had to pursue her own goals.
Helen started by going back to school. She enrolled in a course of anatomy at Boston University. This was the very beginning of Helen's special interest in the heart. Under the guidance of her professor, Dr. Alexander Begg, Helen was awed by the heart's complexity. The structure of the heart was exciting, with its valves and chambers. It seemed a true miracle of nature and a work of art to young Helen.
Dr. Begg was greatly impressed with Helen. She was always curious and able to make clever observations. He knew that Helen wanted to become a physician and advised her to apply to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, which had just started accepting women. Unfortunately, the school was highly competitive, and even Helen was sure she would not be accepted. But Dr. Begg had confidence in Helen and gave her his highest
recommendation.
Shortly thereafter in the spring of 1923, to Helen's surprise and joy, she received a letter of acceptance into the medical school. Helen was thrilled, for at last she was pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Little did she know, this was just the beginning of her struggle.
Helen began medical school at Johns Hopkins University at the age of twenty-five in 1923. Many times, she felt an extra pressure to perform well.
As a woman, she knew that everyone - the teachers as well as her classmates- was watching how she did. But ultimately she proved herself as a capable student by being accepted into the medical school honor society. Helen was so motivated that in addition to her usual studies, she continued her research on the heart. Helen Taussig's time in medical school was long and tiring with many sleepless nights. But soon, before she knew, four years of study were coming to an end. Graduation day was filled with triumph and glory for Helen when the dean of Johns Hopkins Medical School called her forward and presented her diploma with the words "Helen B. Taussig. . .Doctor of Medicine". At last, in the face of the biases of so many, Helen Taussig had fulfilled her dream. Thrilled with the idea of finally being able to work with her own patients, Helen was anxious to cure them all of their problems. She was sure that better times were ahead.
It just so happened that because of her many years of research, Helen knew more about the heart than any of the new young doctors. Unfortunately, this meant that she was chosen to be in charge of the newly formed heart clinic for children - a job which nobody wanted. Why was this such an undesired position? The Pediatric Cardiology Clinic was the place where children born with heart disease were cared for. These unfortunate children were all very sick with a disease that was thought to be incurable. The clinic was a sad and gloomy place down in the basement of the hospital.
This was the setting of Helen Taussig's first assignment as a doctor after so many years of struggle and training. It was her job to care for these children who were ignored by all the other doctors. It was in this clinic that Helen Taussig came to love and learn about the children known as the blue babies. This name came from the color which these children turned because of their diseased hearts. Worse was the fact that the blue babies were always out of breath and could never play like normal children.
Helen Taussig saw hundreds of blue babies in her clinic. But unlike many who might have felt resentful working in such a hopeless situation, Helen Taussig went about her work with dignity and compassion. One by one, Dr.
Taussig treated each of the blue babies as if it were her own child. She studied all the patients meticulously, calling them her little "crossword puzzles", for so perplexing was their mystery - why did their hearts make them turn blue? So touching were these children, each of them wanting only to play like a normal child, but crippled by the constant smothering feeling. Sadly, as quickly as Dr. Taussig could develop a bond with her beloved children, they would pass away before her eyes. Alone in her small dark clinic, late at night, there were times when even Dr. Taussig was overcome with frustration.
Years went by at the Cardiac Clinic, and Dr. Taussig continued to search desperately for some way to help her children. With the introduction of more advanced x-ray machines, Helen Taussig started to notice some interesting patterns in her blue babies. One day, she noticed something that nobody had ever realized before.
How could it be, wondered Helen, that some blue-babies lived longer than
others? While some blue-babies died after only a few days, others lived for
months and even years. Helen Taussig knew that all babies were born with hearts that were slightly different from grown-ups. The most important difference was a very special blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus. Helen knew that this blood vessel normally closed by itself after birth. She also knew that the timing of when the ductus closed varied between people. By using her stethescope, she could tell when a child's heart was making the change towards becoming adult-like.
Helen Taussig noticed that among her blue babies, those who were least ill
seemed to have a ductus which stayed open longer. In addition, she saw that these same children rapidly got worse when the ductus began to close.
Over time, Helen gradually began to understand the mystery behind the blue baby syndrome. In normal babies, the heart pumped blood to the lungs where contact with air would change the blood's color to bright red, and the babies were therefore pink. Since blood turns blue when there is no oxygen in it, this explained the color of the blue babies. Helen then concluded that the blue babies were born with hearts unable to pump blood to the lungs to gather air. This also explained why the blue babies were always so short of breath.
Some blue babies were able to live longer by chance because their ductus
arteriosus stayed open and was acting as a bridge letting blood past the
malformed part of the heart and into the lungs by a separate pathway. This was a revolutionary idea, and Dr. Taussig immediately set out to put it to practical use.
Like most new ideas, Dr. Taussig's met with much skepticism and opposition. She reasoned that if the ductus arteriosus could be kept open or if an artificial pathway could be constructed, the blue babies would get blood to the lungs and do much better.
She soon learned of a surgeon named Dr. Gross who had many years of experience doing operations on the ductus arteriosus. It just so happened that Dr. Gross was working in Boston, near her home town in Massachusetts. Since Helen's father was getting older and had recently become sick, she was considering moving back home from Johns Hopkins. If she could work with Dr. Gross, she would be able to try her idea and also be near her father. She approached Dr. Gross with her idea of constructing a new ductus arteriosus for the blue babies. Upon hearing Helen Taussig, Dr. Gross found her idea to be ridiculous. He laughed at Helen and told her that he would never perform such a silly operation. Furthermore, he added that Helen should not return to Boston where she would not be tolerated. "Stay where you are wanted," he said to her.
Again, Helen Taussig found herself in the position where she had been so many times before: facing the odds, fighting for years to prove herself to those who had no faith in her abilities, either because she was a woman, or because doctors thought the blue babies were truly hopeless.
Helen Taussig did not give up. She couldn't let all her pitiful little "crossword puzzles" down, for they were still helplessly dying. She returned to Johns Hopkins and waited. She waited for the arrival of Dr. Alfred Blalock.
Dr. Blalock, like Dr. Gross, was interested in surgery of the ductus arteriosus. In the fall of 1942 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Helen Taussig
quietly watched as Dr. Blalock successfully performed surgery. At the end of the operation, as he was exiting the operating room, Dr. Taussig walked up to Dr. Blalock and commented,
"I stand in awe and admiration of your surgical skill, but the really great day will come when you build a ductus for a child . . . "
Dr. Blalock, who had heard of Helen Taussig's ideas, knew immediately what she meant. He looked at Helen Taussig respectfully and answered, "When that day comes, this will seem like child's play."
Dr. Blalock took Helen Taussig seriously, and from that day on, they worked as a team in the laboratory.
Research was slow and frustrating. Day and night, almost by trial and error, they worked to perfect an operation which would allow blood to reach the lungs. In the meantime, children continued to succumb. Nearly two years went by before they developed an operation which might work.
Finally, in the autumn of 1944, the first child to undergo the blue baby operation was chosen. The child was a boy who had recently begun to worsen. He was deeply blue and could hardly eat without gasping for air. Dr. Taussig feared that the end was near.
Helen couldn't wait any longer. Though they were still working on some last minute refinements, Helen Taussig convinced Dr.Blalock that they should proceed without delay.
Although it was a desperate attempt, on November 29th 1944, the little blue boy was given a second chance at life. That morning, the child lay in his bed while his parents, in tears, kissed him for perhaps the very last time. He was then wheeled down the long white corridors of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and into the operating room. At first glance the boy was terrified. Everyone in the room was wearing surgical masks, robes, and rubber gloves.
The operation began, and hours passed while Dr. Blalock's hands skillfully
worked: cutting, sewing, placing damps, and positioning the shunt which would act as an artificial ductus to deliver blood to the child's lungs. Everyone in the room felt tense, including Dr. Taussig. Nobody dared speak, and the only sounds were of the cold surgical tools clanging against each other. Finally, everything was in place. Everyone held their breath as Dr. Blalock slowly removed the last clamp.
At that moment, a sudden rush of blood filled the child's lungs for the first time in his life. . . someone in the room shouted, "He's a lovely color now!" Helen Taussig walked to the head of the table and saw the boy's beautiful pink face, his rose-colored cheeks and cherry red lips. Shortly thereafter, the child woke up in the operating room. He was no longer gasping for air and he asked if he could get up to see his parents. In the words of Helen Taussig herself, "We knew we had won."
Indeed, at the age of forty-six, Dr. Taussig had triumphed. The news spread fast. Soon, there were people from all over the world flooding into her small basement clinic with their sickly blue babies. By the hundreds they were saved. Dr. Taussig and Dr. Blalock also made trips throughout the world, bringing the gift of life to blue babies everywhere.
In 1946 Dr. Taussig was finally recognized for her devotion to her profession and given a promotion at Johns Hopkins. But in spite of all she had done, Helen Taussig never relaxed in her crusade to help sick children. In 1947 she published her textbook Congenital Malformations of the Heart, a true masterpiece containing over 600 pages of information which she had gathered over a ten year period. Her book was a landmark in pediatric
cardiology which permanently laid to rest the mystery of the blue babies. Throughout the years,Helen Taussig continued to live her life to the fullest. She was an optimistic woman, always thinking of ways she could make her world better. At a time in life when most people would have rested on their earlier accomplishments, Helen Taussig seemed tireless. She remained active as a prominent voice in the medical community, and her contribution to world health extended well beyond the scope of heart disease.
Dr. Taussig's next great challenge came in the early 1960's when an outbreak of a disease called phocomelia occurred throughout Europe. This was a horrible condition in which children were born with malformed arms and legs. When Dr. Taussig heard about this she new that it was a serious emergency. She immediately flew to Europe where she traveled to many hospitals, observing the situation first-hand. At that time, there was some evidence that the cause of phocomelia might be a medicine called Thalidomide. This was a kind of sleeping pill which was supposedly safe in adults and children, but nobody knew what it did when taken by pregnant women.By the end of her tour through Europe, Dr. Taussig was convinced that the sleeping pill was causing the birth defects and that more people had to be warned. She returned to the United States where she reported her findings to the medical community and to the Food and Drug Administration. This time, Helen met little opposition. The U. S. Government as well as doctors throughout America took her recommendations seriously, and the use of the sleeping pill by pregnant women was stopped. Thanks to Helen Taussig's watchful eye, the catastrophe of phocomelia was avoided in the United States.
All of Helen Taussig's awards and honors could fill many pages. Looking back on how she first struggled to become a doctor, it's ironic that she was
awarded honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from seventeen universities around the world. She was especially pleased when one of those places was Harvard University, which had closed its doors to her years before because she was a woman. In September 1964, Dr. Taussig was recognized by President Lyndon B. Johnson who awarded her the Medal of Freedom. A year later, she was appointed the first woman President of the American Heart Association.
Yet one of Helen Taussig's greatest pleasures was the reward she found in
teaching. Young doctors from all over America came to spend one or two years with the famous Helen Taussig to be trained in pediatric cardiology. In turn, she watched as her students became prominent doctors themselves, setting up clinics around the world for children with heart disease.
Helen Taussig often invited her students to vacation at her family cottage in Cape Cod. It was her favorite way of relaxing and getting to know her students. She loved tending her garden, and picking wild flowers for decoration. When not busy writing or giving a lesson, she would gather all her students and teach them how to cook shellfish, bake muffins, and pick berries for preserves. Later in the evenings they would all tell stories and laugh around a warm fireplace with a glass of fine sherry. Helen's students, who at first were in awe of her reputation, eventually realized that despite her extraordinary accomplishments, the beauty of Helen Taussig lay in her friendliness and approachability.
Although Helen Taussig never married, her many students were her family, and every year she hosted "reunions". Doctors from all over the world would travel great distances to visit their teacher. In addition, these occasions were often attended by former patients of Helen's, many of them grown into adults and leading happy productive lives themselves.
Helen Taussig always remained young in spirit. To the very end of her life, she loved reading and enjoyed the excitement of always learning more. On May 20, 1986, she was involved in a car accident which took her life. But her legacy lives on in the lives of the children she saved and in the inspiration she gave to other women. To this day, the "Helen B. Taussig Children's Pediatric Cardiac Center" at Johns Hopkins Hospital stands in memory of the woman who solved the mystery of the blue babies. Cardiologist Having struggled with severe dyslexia to complete college, Helen Brooke Taussig (1898-1986) regarded the fact that women were rarely admitted to medical school as just another hurdle to get past. She completed her studies at John Hopkins Medical Schoolbut was then confronted with the loss of her hearing. Determined to practice anyway, and choosing pediatric cardiology as her specialty, she learned to read lips and to "listen with her fingers" to her patients' hearts. This fine-tuned sensitivity, combined with her acute powers of observation, led Taussig to one of the most important discoveries in cardiac care in the twentieth centuryand to the beginning of open-heart surgery. Taussig determined that a lack of oxygen was the cause of cyanosis, a congenital disorder that caused babies to die very young. She developed a successful surgical technique to correct the problem, and soon cyanosis was virtually wiped out.
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