Dr Porges - A life well lived

Only rarely in life do you meet someone who exemplifies what it means to be all you can be.  Dr. Robert Porges, MD, OB-GYN was that person and more.  Dr. Porges passed away during Hurricane Sandy from lymphoma.  This Thanksgiving, we’re grateful we could call Dr. Porges a friend, mentor and partner in our efforts to improve maternal health around the world. Through his example of a life well lived, Dr. Porges taught us that Every Moment Counts.

Dr. David Keefe, MD is the current chairperson of NYU Langone Medical Center’s OB-GYN department.  Keefe says his friend and colleague, Dr. Porges was “ part Marcus Welby MD - part God.  He was the quintessential old school physician - humble, graceful and elegant. Even in his 80s, he was considered the best surgeon for the most difficult patients. He was NYU Obstetrics Department chairperson twice. He trained generations of medical students and delivered generations of mothers and babies with his always-kind, always-compassionate manner.  He’d walk into a room full of people and make each one feel like he or she were the only one who was important.  He was a completely selfless soul, even at the end of his life when his cancer came back.  He never told anyone or complained even at the very end of his life in the ICU when nothing else could be done.  As the storm was approaching and it was clear his relapse was permanent, he and his family decided he’d go home. The power was out and they had no lights, but he had his family by his side and maintained his grace, style and elegance even as he was dying.”

Christy and Dr. Porges crossed paths near the end of his career.  Christy says:

 “I learned about Dr. Porges while making No Woman, No Cry, through my kids’ pediatrician, his daughter Dr. Vicki Porges. She told me he’d spent most of his career at NYU, but in recent years had become increasingly interested in global health. I met him in the fall of 2011 when I was invited to screen No Woman, No Cry during Grand Rounds at NYU for an audience of doctors, nurses, midwives and anesthetists. Afterward, Dr. Porges and Dr. Keefe gave me a tour of their hospital. We visited Bellevue and the new state of the art simulation room where they train staff in emergency management. A few months later, Dr. Porges introduced me to his friend, Dr. Harry Strulovici who founded an organization that’s addressing maternal health in Uganda, called Life For Mothers (www.lifeformothers.org).

I saw Dr. Porges for the last time this past spring at a gymnastics meet where his granddaughters and my daughter were competing. It was Super Bowl Sunday and he was one of the few men there. He gave us a ride home afterward and as we were driving he got a call from a woman who had just delivered and was having some kind of problem. She wasn't his patient because he wasn't practicing obstetrics anymore, but he spoke calmly and confidentially and told her what questions to ask those caring for her.  He also promised to make a call himself. That was the kind of doctor Dr. Porges was – always available to whoever needed him.” 

We spoke with Dr. Vicki Porges the day after her father’s funeral while she was still deep in grief and gratitude for the outpouring of love and praise she’d received on behalf of her father.  “He touched so many people’s lives – patients, coworkers, hospital staff and doctors he trained.  People came to tell me how much he meant to them, how he’d delivered them and delivered their children and their family members’ children.  One woman told me she had been his patient just days before he was admitted to the ICU and never knew he was sick.  All he wanted to do was his best work, right up to the end.”

Dr. Porges “best work” included decades as an obstetrician and his specialty in surgical repair for women with pelvic floor problems.  He trained medical students in the technical skills qualified physicians need , but also in qualities that have been lost to some doctors, including treating everyone with dignity and kindness.  Vicki Porges said, “When he taught someone in the OR, he trained them to never talk down to anyone because everyone was important.”  He also taught by example that you’re never too old to learn, grow and make a difference. 

At 78 when most doctors are long past retirement, Dr. Porges went back to school to get a master’s degree in public health with an emphasis on global women’s health.  Dr. Keefe says, “He didn’t ask for any shortcuts and completed all the mandatory classes and field experience. That’s when he traveled to Uganda and learned about the serious indignities women experience from complicated deliveries that result in fistulas and pelvic organ prolapse. In addition to significant health complications, those types of injuries leave many women incontinent, which ostracizes them and makes them cast offs from society.”

Dr. Porges and surgeon Dr. Strulovici set up an OR and worked 14-hour days to perform countless surgical repairs.  Women walked for days and stood in line for hours when they heard about Dr. Porges.  Despite the enormous impact he made, Dr. Porges remained frustrated he couldn’t prevent these injuries from happening in the first place.  That’s when Dr. Porges returned to NYU and set up the Division of Global Women’s Health to collaborate with local, national and international partners to address global maternal health. 

Keefe says, “Even when his lymphoma returned, Dr. Porges commitment and passion drove him to work and use every hour, every minute to serve others. He stood for something bigger than himself.” As one mourner wrote in his family’s memorial guestbook, “He set a shining example of compassion, technical expertise, humility and grace that many of us have tried to emulate.” 

Christy and Every Mother Counts send our condolences to his wife, Felicia Axelrod-Porges, to his children Vicki and John and to his grandchildren. During this Thanksgiving, we’re grateful for his standard of excellence that inspired so many.