by Dr. Arnold P. Gold
This speech, describing how the Gold Foundation was created, was given in 2016 at a Gold Humanism Honor Society conference by Gold Foundation co-founder Dr. Arnold P. Gold.
The tradition of caring in which I was educated was based on humanism. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, I began to notice changes in the culture of medical practice relative to patient centered care.
The exciting explosion of important scientific and technological discoveries brought with it an unintended negative consequence. Students began to demonstrate a new lack of interest in patient care, focusing more on amazing PET scans, CT scans, and other test scores.
Dr. Arnold P. Gold
At the same time, from friends and neighbors at dinner parties and in other community events, I began to hear expressions of disappointment about their medical interactions. Often their conversations ended with, “Arnold, you teach medical students. Can’t you do something about how patients are being treated? “
One day at rounds it became clear that a cornerstone of the medical experience, the important relations between the patient and the doctor, was at risk.
My resident presented my 16-year-old patient Glenn as “the malignant brain tumor in room 207.”
I was startled. I was shaken.
A stream of test scores from the house staff followed. When I asked if Glenn has siblings, when I asked about his parents and how he was dealing with the news of his illness, no one in the group had any information. Without exaggeration I felt a serious threat facing medicine.
A seriously ill young man was reduced to a room number.
Keeping patient care central in every medical interaction was in danger.
That night I shared my epiphany and anxiety with my wife and live in therapist, Sandra. I expressed my fear that the treasured relationship between the doctor and patient was being threatened.
In extremely strong words she challenged me to do something about it. I was baffled! What could one person do to stop the tide of this change in behavior toward patients? The forces facing me seem enormous.
Then I remember Sandra once quoting a line from the Talmud that said, “It is not for you to finish the task but neither are you excused from beginning it.”
What could I do, I asked myself? I was on service; I had a busy practice, I was in the process of writing chapters in two textbooks, and I was teaching every day.
Some of you already know what happened next. Inspired by the work of Rockefeller and Carnegie, that very next day, I decided to start a foundation to sustain humanism in medicine. I called upon several colleagues and some friends to join my campaign. Realizing my need for a laboratory to pilot programs, I called Dean Tapley at Columbia and that afternoon with a handshake, he agreed to partner with me on this project.
I was on a roll. I couldn’t wait to share my news with Sandra.
But at dinner that particular night she never asked how my day had been. Finally, filled with pride, I told her about starting a foundation.
“Why a foundation?” she asked.
I told her about Rockefeller and Carnegie’s success with research and libraries.
“Do you have some money I don’t know about?” she asked. “I want to remind you, Arnold dear, that those men had lots of money to invest in such projects. Where will you get the money?”
Without hesitation, I said, “Sandra, that’s easy. That will be your job to figure it out.”
And figure it out she did, for the next 25 years as Gold President and CEO, passing the leadership baton to the eminent Dr. Richard Levin in August of 2012.
My colleagues accused me of smoking opium when in 1988 I began the foundation’s work.
But I never doubted that the Gold Foundation would have a significant impact because when accompanied by excellent science, humanism, compassion, and love are essential to providing optimal health outcomes.
