Dr. Irwin Schatz, a former chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Hawaii who played a key role in questioning the ethics of the infamous Tuskegee Study and the father of U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, died of cancer in his home in Honolulu on April 1. He was 83.
Schatz was chairman of the John A. Burns School of Medicine for more than two decades. At UH, Schatz became a central contributor to the Honolulu Heart Program, a long-term study begun in 1965 which focuses on the relationships between human aging and heart disease. Its major findings include the existence of "good" cholesterol and the central role that frailty plays in poor health outcomes; the study has helped to improve the treatment of heart disease worldwide.
"Dr. Schatz was loved by generations of medical students and his colleagues," said Dr. Jerris Hedges, dean of the School of Medicine. "Faculty like Dr. Schatz contributed so much in building a school that is now … No. 19 in the country in primary care. … His role as chair of medicine began during an important time for the UH medical school."
Schatz’s children include a pair of identical twins, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Stephen Schatz, assistant superintendent of schools.
Irwin Schatz helped to train and mentor generations of new physicians, and was widely respected for his medical knowledge and skills with patients in clinical situations. He emphasized how listening and empathy improve patient care, prompting a new direction in medical education in Hawaii.
By the time of his retirement in 2011, he had taught thousands of Hawaii physicians, and in particular imparted the so-called "Schatz method" of reading EKGs.
Schatz spent his career helping those less fortunate, exemplified by his role in questioning the Tuskegee Study. Between 1932 and 1972 the U.S. Public Health Service ran the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, in which 399 African-American sharecroppers with syphilis were observed to learn the natural progression of the disease if left untreated. Reading about the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1964, Schatz was appalled to learn that penicillin — already known to be effective in treating syphilis — was being withheld in the study.
In a letter sent directly to the study’s author, Schatz wrote, "I am utterly astounded by the fact that physicians allow patients with potentially fatal disease to remain untreated when effective therapy is available. I assume that you feel the information which is extracted from observation of this untreated group is worth their sacrifice. If this is the case, then I suggest that the United States Public Health Service and those physicians associated with it in this study need to re-evaluate their moral judgments in this regard."
Schatz, then a 34-year old physician in Detroit, never received a reply. Media researchers working in the federal archives would later find a note penned by the study’s second author stapled to Schatz’s letter: "This is the first letter of this type we have received. I do not plan to answer this letter. Anne R. Yobs, M.D."
The role of Schatz, who was apparently the only physician to complain about the study, was revealed in a 1972 Wall Street Journal article that led to a media storm and subsequent wide-ranging changes in how medical research is conducted. In recognition of his courageous stance, the Mayo Clinic awarded Schatz its prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009.
Schatz was born to Jacob and Reva Schatz and grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with undergraduate and medical degrees, he was a medical resident at the Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu in 1956 and a fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., from 1958 to 1961.
His commitment to using medicine in service to others is evident from his volunteer work as a physician in the early 1960s on the SS Hope, the first peacetime hospital ship. He put his own career on hold in order to provide free medical care in Latin America and Africa.
After returning to the United States, he held positions at Henry Ford Hospital, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan before moving to Honolulu in 1975.
In Honolulu, Schatz published more than 100 scientific papers and served as president of the American Autonomic Society and on editorial boards for several medical journals. He also received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation and the American College of Physicians.
A lover of classical music and jazz, an inveterate reader and a committed Detroit Tigers fan, Schatz also served at the Veterans Administration Hospital and volunteered at the Waikiki Medical Clinic.
In 2008, as he was beginning to contemplate retirement, Schatz completed yearlong training to become a docent at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. He advocated teaching medical students how the interpretation of art helps physicians develop empathy for patients in clinical situations.
He is also survived by wife Barbara; children Jacob, Edward and Stephen; and nine grandchildren.
Arrangement for a public memorial are pending. Contributions may be made to Island Hospice: islands hospice.com/Pages/Islands Hospice/Donations; or the Waikiki Health Center, waikikihc.org.
