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John McFie, Ma, Md, MrcpsychSource: The British Medical Journal, Vol. 281, No. 6232 (Jul. 5, 1980), p. 69Published by: BMJStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25440496 .

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BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 5 JULY 1980 69

phenylketonuria in Scotland and beyond owe

their intellectual preservation to John Steven

son and his staff. It is fitting that in his last

year he and they took a vital role in setting up

thyroid-stimulating hormone screening for

congenital hypothyroidism by using the same

dried blood spots on the Guthrie paper. In

John's first weeks of retirement he knew that

the method had made available on an ex

perimental basis the screening of all births in

Scotland and that an appreciable number of

babies were already receiving treatment as a

result.

JOHN McFIE MA, MD, MRCPSYCH

Dr John McFie, who was a consultant

psychologist at the Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham, died on 15 June at the age of 58.

John McFie was born on 19 November

1921, qualified at Cambridge, and in the late

1940s and early 1950s developed his interest in neuropsychology at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London.

His concern about malnutrition in Africa took him to Uganda and Nigeria, where he

worked as a pathologist and physician and he was the specialist in nutrition to the Federal

Ministry of Health, Nigeria. He is survived by his wife Dorothy and their two sons.

ES writes: John McFie's personality was one

of unusual charm. Few who have known him will forget his handsome face and figure, his

quiet unobtrusive manner, his friendly but often ironic smile. He stood a little aside from the throng of people pressing for a career; and he never received the authoritative

establishment, perhaps not even the

recognition that his intellectual gifts deserved. He did not fit comfortably into the categories

in which we classify our colleagues. Starting from medicine, he branched off into

psychology, and from there back again into

neurology and the emerging specialty of

neuropsychology, which he did much to

advance. He was too intuitive, too humane, for the rigours of science, and too lucid,

experimental, and analytic for purely clinical work. It was the humanity that won out; and what might have been his best years for intellectual achievement were spent selflessly in the relief of suffering in Africa.

K SILBERSTEIN MD, LRCP, LRCSED, LRFPSGLAS

Dr K Silberstein, formerly a general practi tioner and police surgeon for the city of

Cambridge, died there on 7 June at the age of 75.

Kurt Silberstein, who was born on 7 April 1905, was one of the doctors who was forced to leave Germany as a result of Nazi

persecution. He took his MD in Leipzig in 1929 and had almost completed his training in internal medicine under Professor Kuttner at the Virchow Hospital in Berlin when he had to leave. After requalifying at Glasgow in 1935 he and his wife settled in Cambridge,

where he was appointed medical officer to a

friendly society. In 1945 he acquired a single handed family practice in the Cherry Hinton

district, where he soon became popular and

respected. In the same year he became sole

police surgeon for Cambridge, an appointment

which reflects the high regard in which he

was held by the Cambridge community. Dr Silberstein came from a family of general

practitioners and felt strongly that there should

be only one standard in the practice of

medicine?the best. He readily agreed that a

general practitioner's life had become easier

over the last 20 years, but often pointed out

that in his view this improvement had been

at the expense of the standard of care provided.

Arguing that no obstacle should be placed between patient and doctor, he did not hold

with appointment systems in general practice. With these high standards his work continued

to satisfy him emotionally and intellectually;

only deteriorating health persuaded him to

retire.

Kurt Silberstein possessed intelligence,

charm, and wit, so that an encounter with

him was always looked forward to. Owing to

his training in internal medicine he required few second opinions on this aspect of his

practice and his admission diagnoses were

usually correct. He is survived by his wife

Valerie, and two daughters; his weekends were

often spent visiting his children and grand

children, two of whom hope to follow him

into the profession.?HJG.

F GUGENHEIM MD, LRCPED, LRCSED, LRFPSGLAS

Dr F Gugenheim, formerly a general prac titioner at Cockfosters, Hertfordshire, died on

19 June. He was 74.

Franz Gugenheim was born on 27 March

1906 at Karlsruhe, West Germany, went to

school there, and

received his medi

cal education at

the University of

Frankfurt am

Main, where he

qualified in 1932.

During his under

graduate years he

developed a strong interest in ortho

paedic surgery which Professor

Hohmann, his

teacher in that

subject, acknowl

edged by taking him on his staff. When

Hitler's rise to power cut Dr Gugenheim's career short he decided to seek a new life in

Britain and came to London in 1933 to enter

the clinical undergraduate course at the

London Hospital Medical School. He qualified in Britain by taking the Scottish conjoint examination in 1934 and, after his marriage,

opened a practice in the developing building estate of Cockfosters, where for some time he

was the first and only doctor.

Franz Gugenheim's strong, warm person

ality made him popular quickly and his

practice grew with the growth of Cockfosters,

particularly during the post-war years. Many of his patients benefited from his interest in

orthopaedics; he kept abreast of developments in that specialty as well as those in other

branches of medicine with more relevance to

general practice. During the second world war

Dr Gugenheim served from 1941 to 1945 in

India; on demobilisation he decided to con

tinue with his single-handed practice, and

welcomed the National Health Service with

enthusiasm. To his joy, his two sons qualified

in medicine, the older joining his practice and

the younger a group practice in Edgware. His

daughter, a late arrival, became a teacher of

English. When anginal attacks occurred with increas

ing frequency Dr Gugenheim decided to under

go surgery for coronary bypass and mitral valve

replacement, but unfortunately he did not

recover from the operation. He is survived by his wife Marianne, two sons, a daughter, and

six grandchildren.?KZ.

C D SHAPLAND MRCP, FRCS

Mr C D Shapland, who was honorary con

sulting ophthalmic surgeon to University

College Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, died on 18 June at the age of 80.

Cyril Dee Shapland, son of Dr John Dee

Shapland, was born on 22 November 1899.

He qualified in medicine at University College

Hospital, London, in 1922, and after holding house appointments became resident physician at Ruthin Castle, North Wales, before

deciding to devote his career to ophthalmology. In 1929 he took both the MRCP and the

FRCS while clinical assistant at Moorfields. He then became resident at Moorfields and

senior resident in 1931, registrar and chief

assistant 1931-6, and pathologist and curator

1936-9. He was appointed consultant ophthal mic surgeon at University College Hospital

in 1933, and consultant surgeon at Moorfields in 1938. Mr Shapland also held consultant

posts at the Royal Marsden Hospital and

Queen Mary's, Roehampton.

During the war Cyril Shapland served in the Army, becoming command ophthalmolo

gist and eventually adviser in ophthalmology with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1946. He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries and a freeman of the

City of London. During his long career he was vice-president of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and the

ophthalmic section of the Royal Society of

Medicine, and was appointed honorary member of several ophthalmological societies overseas.

Cyril Shapland will be remembered mainly for his work on retinal detachment in the

'fifties, when the surgical treatment of this

condition was undergoing much change. He

developed scierai shortening procedures, which, combined with sealing of the torn

retina by diathermy or cryotherapy, con

siderably improved the proportion of cures,

especially in highly myopic and aphakic eyes. For his contributions to ophthalmology he was

made a membre d'honneur of the Jules Gonin Club of Lausanne in 1966. His interests in

ophthalmology were not confined to retinal

conditions, however, and he taught and

encouraged many undergraduate and post

graduate students in general ophthalmology. He was a good operator and, with his medical

and pathological knowledge, was regarded as

one of the best opinions in London on difficult

problems. He contributed to many medical

publications?mainly on detachment of the

retina.

Sadly, Cyril Shapland's last years were

distressing, though relieved as far as possible

by his devoted second wife, Gertrude. His

first wife died in 1971 and he had no children.

He is survived by his wife.?HR.

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