Sir Dennis Paterson

Sir Dennis Paterson
Orthopaedic Surgeon
1930 - 2015

Dennis Paterson was educated at St Peter's College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide graduating in 1953. He married Mary Hardy, a physiotherapist, in 1955. After house officer positions at the Royal Adelaide and Adelaide Children's Hospitals, he followed the well worn trail to England in 1956 to further his surgical career becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1958. Dennis gained his orthopaedic experience at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital on the Welsh border in Shropshire.

In 1960 Mary, Dennis and three children returned to Adelaide and Dennis entered private practice with honorary appointments at the Royal Adelaide and the Adelaide Children's Hospitals. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Orthopaedics in 1962.

A turning point in his career was when the Australian Orthopaedic Association appointed him the 1965 ABC Travelling Fellow to North America. This trip must have been an eye-opener for the young Australian steeped in the traditions of British orthopaedics.

On the eve of Dennis' departure, the senior orthopaedic surgeon at the Adelaide Children's Hospital, Lance Bonnin, died at a young age and on his return Dennis was appointed his successor. From this moment his practice became increasingly confined to the orthopaedic problems of children and adolescents.

Dennis, was an important member of the generation who developed the Australian Orthopaedic Association orthopaedic training program based around the proper selection of trainees, a structured education program and an exit exam leading to the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Orthopaedics. He was a member of the first South Australian Board of Studies and remained influential in the further development of Australian orthopaedic education. For 10 years he was an examiner in orthopaedic surgery for the College.

Dennis developed an Orthopaedic Department at the Adelaide Children's Hospital which was the envy of many in terms of its facilities and organisation. Generations of students and young orthopaedic surgeons benefited from his teaching in the lecture theatre, the operating room and at the bedside. He organised a Fellowship program for young paediatric orthopaedic surgeons. Many of these were from overseas and have become leaders in their own communities.

Dennis made significant contributions to the care of children with physical disabilities. He joined the board of the Crippled Children's Association and was made President in 1968. Under Dennis, the Association adopted a vision for a new centre for the care of the young disabled. The Regency Park Centre for the Young Disabled was opened in 1976. CCA, now Novita Children's Services, remains a leader in the provision of services for disabled children, including those with severe head injuries resulting from road trauma. Dennis became Sir Dennis in 1976 and although the citation for his knighthood reads "services to medicine" there is no doubt that this was largely related to the development of the Regency Park Centre.

Sir Dennis was honoured in a number of other ways. In 1980 he was awarded the LO Betts Medal of the Australian Orthopaedic Association for "outstanding service" and in 1984 the degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD) by the University of Adelaide on the basis of his thesis entitled "Electrical Stimulation and Osteogenesis". In 1987 he was elected President of the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) attending regular board meetings in Brussels and returning to work three days later. In 1989 he was made Clinical Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Adelaide and in 1996 was elected President of the Australian Paediatric Orthopaedic Society.

In retirement in 1996, Sir Dennis concentrated on his interests in road trauma and was Chairman of the Trauma Services Clinical Advisory Committee and was a member of the National Road Trauma Advisory Council until 2001. He was a supporter of proper systemised trauma care and a strong advocate for safety measures such as the introduction of bicycle helmets.

Away from medicine Dennis had a vineyard at McLaren Vale and was very active in viticulture and was a member of the Board of the McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Visitor Centre becoming its chairman in 1998.

Lady Paterson died in 2004 and he married Kathy Line herself a widow and they had a decade of happiness together. Dennis is survived by Kathy and children Tom, Cecily, Belinda, Lucy and ten grandchildren.

Andrew Sutherland AM FRACS

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