A Woman's Quest: The life of Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D.Zakrzewska, Marie E. (Marie Elizabeth)
History
A Woman's Quest: The life of Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D.
Zakrzewska, Marie E. (Marie Elizabeth)
Women physicians -- United States -- Biography; Zakrzewska, Marie E. (Marie Elizabeth), 1829-1902
After fifty years of experimental agitation and practical work, we
now are completing the third department of the medical art in laying
the cornerstone for this building. The medical pavilion,[26] the
maternity, and now the surgical pavilion are the proofs in brick and
mortar of woman’s independent and faithful performances in the medical
profession.[27]
The confidence of the public which generously provided the means for
this cause, the confidence of the sick who sought relief at the hands
of the women physicians, and the attitude of the profession in general
towards the woman practitioner--all these have been acquired through
skillful and patient labor.
It would be affectation if we women physicians did not feel proud
of the result which we now see materialized, grateful as we are to
all those who in earlier years bore with us not only the doubt and
opposition but also the ridicule of our attempts. While we remember
those who have done their part so valiantly, we do not forget those
who have passed away without having had the satisfaction which we now
enjoy in the success of our early effort.
On September 6, 1899, she celebrated her seventieth birthday, and on
October 24, as stated in the annual report:
The Hospital tried to do honor to the one who, more than all others,
deserves to be honored--its senior physician, Dr. Zakrzewska. In her
thought, the New England Hospital was born. Because of her zeal and
untiring energy and the aid of a few earnest friends, it became a
fact. And from that day to the present one, as wise woman, skillful
physician, and faithful friend, she has been an inspiration to all.
A reception was tendered her by the Hospital at the home of Mrs.
Thomas Mack and there, with Mrs. Cheney to assist, she greeted her
many friends, old and new.
That the Hospital shall always bear an evident sign of its originator,
it has been decided to name the main building which was the first one
built, “The Zakrzewska Building,” and to have it suitably marked by a
tablet.
The exhausting excitement of this celebration aggravated the nerve
fatigue which had been hanging out warning signals for many years,
and to which attention has been called in these pages. At last these
admonitions had become peremptory, and at last the high-spirited
physician was obliged to confess herself subject to the laws regarding
which she had so often cautioned her patients.
A study of her symptoms would in these days lead to a diagnosis of
arteriosclerosis, that sad, sure reaction that waits inevitably upon
the over-strenuous life, whether this follows the spur of the inward
urge or the whip of circumstance. In the earlier days of medical
practice, when symptoms of this condition were most in evidence through
cerebral manifestations, the diagnosis of an obscure and fatal nervous
disease was made, and so it was in this case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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