Joseph Widney - Medical Career

Medical Career

After his graduation from Toland Medical College (the only medical school at that time in California) on October 2, 1866, Widney re-enlisted in the army as a military surgeon in January 1867 for a two-year tour of duty. He was posted to Drum Barracks in Wilmington, California for a month in 1867, before being appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon for the Arizona Territory during the Apache Wars. During this time he served with the 14th Infantry Regiment under General James Henry Carleton (1814–1873). The regiment camped for several weeks two miles (3 km) south of La Paz, Arizona en route to Camp Date Creek, where they were based for several months where he helped reestablish that post. By July 1867 he was based near Apache Pass during the re-building of Fort Bowie, where he supervised the building of the Post Hospital.

In December 1867 he asked for a discharge from the military. While in the military, his interest in climatology increased. He sent detailed reports regarding the region's rainfall, topography, and climate. Rand concludes that the Arizona Campaign "contributed much more to his appreciation of life in general than to his medical career".

In late 1868, Widney was discharged from the military and he moved to the embryonic community of Los Angeles. Widney began his medical practice on October 8, 1868, sharing offices with Dr. John Strother Griffin (1816–1898), in the old Temple Block (corner of Temple and South Main Streets, Los Angeles). Among those he treated were General William Tecumseh Sherman and Mexican bandido Tiburcio Vasquez, as well as the indigent ill.

Before the passage of the "Anti-Quackery Law" by the California State Legislature on April 3, 1876, licenses were not needed for doctors. The medical profession was not regulated by the State before this date and medical practitioners would advertise their medical skills in the newspapers. Concerned about "medical quackery" in California, and also at the lack of legislation for licensing doctors, on January 31, 1871, Dr Widney became a founder of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, the oldest such association in California. Widney became known as "the Father of the Association".

The founders wanted to establish medical schools and publications, raise the standards in the practice of medicine, as well as the income and status of doctors. Widney advocated dispensing aid to "the sickly poor" as a key facet of public health and civic philanthropy. From 1876 to 1901, medical licensing was done by the State Medical Society. In 1901, the State Board of Medical Examiners was created. Widney was among the first licensed by the medical society. Dr Widney was elected its president in 1877. On May 12, 1937, a bust of Dr Widney sculpted by Dr Emil Seletz and commissioned by the Los Angeles County Medical Association was unveiled and placed in the lobby of their headquarters.

Widney believed in scientific medicine. He opposed were faith healing or "mind cure" practitioners, such as Christian Science and John Alexander Dowie. In 1886, Widney, then professor of the principles and practice of medicine in the college of medicine of the University of Southern California, proposed a protocol for such studies.

Widney advocated the organization of both the Los Angeles and California Boards of Health, and was Los Angeles' first public health officer.

In 1884, Widney helped re-organise the Southern California Medical Society. He served on the Committee on Medical Topography, Meteorology, Endemics and Epidemics that reported frequently to the Medical Society of the State of California. Widney was a pioneer physician-meteorologist who was an active exponent of medical topography, a nineteenth century medical specialty influenced by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), that studied the relationship between the environment and disease. "If we would make our work and our statistics of any true or permanent value", wrote Dr. Joseph Widney of Los Angeles, "climatic belt must be differentiated from, and contrasted with, climatic belt. It is only thus that our work will lead to a clear understanding of the varied pathological peculiarities of the State....A complicated geography offered not only a scientific challenge but also new possibilities of cure. In 1886 Widney helped establish the Southern California Practitioner, the monthly journal of that society. He served as one of the editors for the first few years. There was a focus on the climate of Southern California in almost every issue. According to the Illustrated History of Los Angeles County(1890), the Southern California Practitioner, which Widney helped establish and edit, there were compelling reasons for this journal to focus on the climate of southern California.

Widney attributed the health of southern Californian residents to the climate and to the availability of fresh fruit. He was impressed with the therapeutic benefits of strawberries. Widney believed his own long life could be attributed to living simply and keeping busy. At age 94, Widney advocated "no liquor, no tobacco, no drugs. I'm not a fanatic on liquor, but to me it is a medicine. I keep it around and take it when I need it. But there is no excuse whatever for tobacco or drugs". He recommended at least eight hours sleep each night and short naps throughout the day.

Despite being "the most distinguished physician in the city", upon his election as the president of the University of Southern California in 1892, Widney discontinued his lucrative medical practice at age 51, continuing to treat a few personal friends. When he was with the Los Angeles City Mission (1894) and the Church of the Nazarene (1895–1898), Widney offered free medical care for those unable to afford treatment.