Jan Pollert
BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7494.794-d (Published 31 March 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:794Data supplement
Jan Pollert
Consultant chest physician south London until 1980 (b Czechoslovakia 1914; q Prague 1939), died from left ventricular failure on 9 November 2004.
Jan was a Czechoslovakian Jew; he inherited a love and understanding of the land, music, and the arts. His family suffered under Nazism and communism and almost all perished. He reached Palestine with his first wife, Marie, joining the Czech army and then the Royal Army Medical Corps, and while serving he developed pulmonary tuberculosis. This determined his choice of specialty.
He loved chest medicine and hospital life, to which he brought patience, humour, loyalty, and wisdom, never failing "to comfort always." A relapse of his disease necessitated the very chemotherapy he had helped to establish at Grove Park, then the only British hospital to use the vile tasting para amino salicylic acid. This led the way to triple chemotherapy and thus to resectional surgery, where before there were only absolute bed rest, collapse therapy, and the "Brompton cocktail."
After retirement Jan survived a haemopericardium following a bypass, returning to his peer reviews for Amnesty International. Sustained to the end by his second wife, Trudy, he enjoyed the company of his daughters, an educational psychologist and a university professor, and his five much loved grandchildren. [Beryl Turner, Mary Farquharson]
See more
- Introductory AddressProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 1-4; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.1
- Report of the Meeting of the Eastern Branch of the Provincial Association at Bury St. Edmond'sProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 10-13; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.10
- Mr. Warburton's Bill for the Regulation of the Medical ProfessionProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 13-15; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.13
- An Atlas of Plates, illustrative of the Principles and Practice of Obstetric Medicine and Surgery, with descriptive LetterpressProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 4; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.4
- A Practical Treatise on the Diseases peculiar to Women, illustrated by Cases, &cProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 4-5; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.4-a