Because the papers include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Confidential Health Information.
Alfred Jaretzki III had a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and at Presbyterian, Mary Imogene Bassett (MIBH), Bellevue, Delafield, and Harlem Hospitals.
History and Biography
Alfred Jaretzki III was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on August 11, 1919. He attended Harvard College (AB 1941) and Harvard Medical School (MD 1944). Jaretzki began his career at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City as a Surgical Intern (1944-1948) and Resident (July 1948-June 1954). He had a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and at Presbyterian, Mary Imogene Bassett (MIBH), Bellevue, Delafield, and Harlem Hospitals.
Jaretzki collaborated with neurologists in the study and treatment of myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune disease marked by muscular weakness. He wrote extensively about surgical thymectomy in treating the disease, advancing knowledge of thymus anatomy. Also noteworthy are his contributions in the field of vascular surgery in collaboration with Arthur Voorhees, with whom he worked in the bridging of arterial gaps in dogs with flexible tubes made from synthetic mesh.
Jaretzki was a member of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America’s Medical/Scientific Advisory Board. After publishing “Death with Dignity—Passive Euthanasia. Guide to Physician Dealing with Dying Patients,” in the New York State Journal of Medicine (April 1976), Jaretzki joined the Board of Directors of Concern for Dying, a group supporting the practice of assisted suicide.
He also co-authored with Frederic P. Herter and Kenneth A. Forde, A Proud Heritage: An Informal History of Surgery at Columbia ([New York, N.Y.] : John Jones Surgical Society, 2003).
In 1992, Jaretzki retired and was named Professor Emeritus of Clinical Surgery, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He died at age 94 on May 29, 2014.
Organization
Correspondence, patient records, notes, drawings, grant application, and writings in both manuscript and printed forms, document Jaretzki’s career as a surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. One videocassette Transcervical-transsternal maximal thymectomy for myasthenia gravis (surgical technique) has accompanying correspondence. Writings are authored by Jaretzki, although the bulk have co-authors.
The patient records include one folder containing records for patients #35-130 arranged in numerical order, and are comprised of Presbyterian Hospital surgical procedure forms with drawings, as well as “surgical pathology” forms containing clinical information. Most of the records document trans-cervical and trans-sternal thymectomies for treatment of myasthenia gravis. Other folders contain patient records as arranged by Jaretzki.
The papers also include one folder of drawings, some airbrushed or reproduced as photographs, and used in Jaretzki’s writings. The bulk depict the anatomy of the thymus. Slides and prints depict experiments involving septal defects and aortic grafts. Approximately 31 lecture slides are glass plates. A grant application includes a DVD regarding thymectomy.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of his wife, Alexandra Isles, 2017 (accession #2017.024, 2018.039).
Processed by Jennifer Ulrich, September 2017, revised 2020.