FOR PROF. FARELL ONLY

Significant Contributions to Public Health- Part I 1

Significant Contributions to Public Health- Part 1

Significant Contributions to Public Health - Part I

Week 3 Assignment 2

Amber Mousel

Orazie Slayton

HCA 415

August 1st, 2016

According to the New York Times, “Luther Leonidas Terry was born in Red Level, a little town in southern Alabama, on Sept. 15, 1911, the son of Lula M. Durham Terry and James Edward Terry. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Birmingham- Southern College in 1931 and an M.D. from Tulane University in 1935” (Pace, 1985). Mr. Terry held an internship position at Hillman Hospital in Birmingham, then became assistant intern and later chief resident at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio” (Flannery, 2010). Mr. Terry eventually married Janet Reynolds Terry in 1940, they had three kids, two sons and one daughter.

Dr. Luther Terry, said to have been a smoker himself may have come to the conclusion that smoking was horrible for not only his health, but the health of others. I consider his interest in cardiovascular made him aware that smoking is horrible for your health. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human services (2014), “Dr. Luther Terrys’ interest in cardiovascular research led him to take the position of Chief of General Medicine and Experimental Therapeutics at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda in 1950, at first on a part-time basis while continuing his work at the Baltimore hospital.” Occasionally when you are dealing with certain things it makes you grasp the real truth and you have to modest yourself so that it is believable for not the just people you are helping, but for yourself too. I am certain that Dr. Luther Terry being a smoker, it more than likely didn’t dawn on him that he needed to stop because what he was discussing will be moving as well.

From looking back on my family history from the 50’s on up majority were smokers. People back than were able to smoke in work settings but now you cannot smoke in any public place now that I’m aware. When watching old black and white movies from a long time ago, they all smoked. But once everyone learned of long term affects things started to change. I do think that if smoking is bad for your health wasn’t brought out by Dr. Terry there would have been a lot of people unaware of the danger of what smoking can do.

In my opinion what Dr. Luther Terry was speaking on was not believed in the beginning because there were a lot of smokers and by them being addicted to smoking cigarettes it’s not easy for someone to quit just like that, even if they know what it could do to their health. So when Dr. Luther Terry addresses the message that smoking cigarettes is not good for your health it’s important he let the people know why and he did just that; they can cause bronchitis, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease. The smokers that were addicted did not believe him. Dr. Luther Terry than thought to stick a warning label on packages of cigarettes which states that smoking was dangerous for your health. That way the population sees it on all packs of cigarettes and they will purchase them at their own risk. If people quit smoking all together that would take away business from various companies that sell the product.

We cannot say that the pricing of the cigarettes was an issued back in the 1950’s because a pack of cigarettes was roughly 15 cents. So now that there is a known fact that cigarettes can cause lung cancer among other things and as pricey as the cigarettes cost these days’ people should be more willing to quit. Cigarettes are expensive and more so in certain states. Two reasons to not smoke cigarettes is because they are horrible for your health and they are very expensive.

Statistics prove that smoking is a cause of death in the United States. Companies cannot allow smoking in their facilities but it does not stop people from doing it. Individuals will smoke in their homes or outside of a business that does not allow smoking in order to continue on the bad habit. But, while Dr. Terry was being involved in trying to stop smoking due to bad health, according to Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary. (2014), “we definitely should not forget Dr. Terry's astonishing work in bringing the subject of the health effects of smoking to public light.” At the same time, we must also not forget his accountability in the massacre that is the Tuskegee study. While Dr. Terry served as Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service from 1961 to 1965, he did nothing about the African American men not being able to receive penicillin to cure syphilis which involved a lot of them passing away due to a shortage of treatment. How can a man with so much power get involved in helping those people in the Tuskegee study get what they needed to treat syphilis but instead doesn’t help them and continue on with life? How could he had been involved in the Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis and allow all those African American men to die.

I believe back in the earlier years many Caucasians did a lot of smoking at the time African American’s were slaves, as the years went on slavery came to an end but at that time there were still more Caucasians smoking then African American’s probably because they could not afford to purchase them. This is how Dr. Luther Terry seemed to be a great man of his time in the health effects of smoking cigarettes which was causing people to lose their lives due to lung cancer along with many other things. This is why I can believe the involvement Dr. Luther Terry had in violating participant’s constitutional rights. In the public eye it would look as if he earned all of the awards for doing amazing work in bringing the issue of the health effects of smoking to public light, according to Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary (2014).

With much respect Dr. Luther Terry received all rewards given for the health effects on smoking, but with his involvement in the Tuskegee study no reward was given in his name due to any other outside health issues because the only good thing that came out of that was the material he gave on why smoking cigarettes is not good for your health and all other health issues it could cause including death. Dr. Luther Terrys’ mission was to get the message out on why smoking cigarettes was not good for your health which at the time was shown on the news and in the papers throughout the nation. He could never get all people to stop smoking completely, but there was a decline and some may have held off from smoking, but for others that was a habit that was hard to break.

During 1964 Luther Terry’s fantastic words against smoking is the main reason why smoking has decreased and still remains as a health concern for many. In his last days Dr. Terry’s interest was to stop smoking cigarettes in the work place because he didn’t want nonsmoking employees exposed to cigarette smoke, second hand smoke can be deadly. My best friend mother worked in a bar and she is now on an oxygen because of the second hand smoke she was around all day long while working. This is a major example of why smoking should not be allowed in public places and this is also why they have nonsmoking and smoking areas, even though when you are in a nonsmoking area you still come in contact with cigarette smoke. There are times when I’m driving in my vehicle and if my window is down and I am at a stoplight I can smell other driver’s cigarette smoke. There are a lot of areas outside of certain facilities that people are not allowed to smoke around so they are getting better at what Luther Terry was trying to accomplish his main concern was the health hazard of smoking.

Luther Terry passed away at the age of 73 on April 29, 1985 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania because of heart failure. His wife, three kids, one brother, one sister and three grandchildren remain living. With all of his achievements he has made many people aware of the dangers if you choose to smoke cigarettes.

Reference:

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary. (2014). Retrieved from http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/01/luther-terry-remembered-as-surgeon.html

Pace, E. (1985). WARNED PUBLIC OF CIGARETTE PERIL. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/31/us/dr-luther-l-terry-73-is-dead-warned-public-of-cigarette-peril.html https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/NN/p-nid/60

Luther Leonidas Terry (1961-1965). (2007). Retrieved from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/previous/bioterry.html

Surgeon General's Report on Smoking Dangers. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/speeches/surgeon-generals-report-on-smoking-dangers

Luther Terry. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1241

6