Letters to the Editor
Readers respond to ACP Internist's coverage.
Fellow physician praised as humanitarian
Regarding the article “Bringing Medicine to the Streets” in the July/August 2019 ACP Internist, I had the opportunity to know James S. Withers, MD, FACP, when I was chief of pulmonary at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh in the early 1990s. He was then, as now, a physician who is truly “worthy to serve the suffering.” Always compassionate and concerned for the patient's well-being (the word patient is from a Latin root meaning “the one who suffers”), he is a clear role model to physicians and students everywhere. I did have the opportunity on several cold winter nights to travel out with him to tend to the homeless. I learned humility.
Jim is a great physician and person. He is a humanitarian and I am very glad to see he is still at it. He is the example that all it takes is one determined individual with a clear goal to change the world.
Richard R. Pesce, MD, MS, FACP
Chattanooga, Tenn.
