LETTERS: DR. RAMSEY SAVED OUR DAUGHTER'S LIFE

To the editor:

Dr. Jesse Ramsey's death is such a devastating loss to the medical profession. Dr. Ramsey was our pediatrician for eight years during the births and early years of our first two children until he closed his private practice. We were extremely saddened he would no longer be our doctor.

Shortly after the birth of our third child in 1996, she became very ill and was hospitalized and treated by our then doctor. A diagnosis was made, but she continued to worsen. Eventually we became distraught over her deteriorating condition and decided to call Dr. Ramsey at his home to ask his opinion. He was unaware that we had had a third child, as we had not seen him for quite some time. Dr. Ramsey came to the phone late that night without hesitation to talk with us about our concerns. We related to him our baby's condition as well as the tests which were run and the results of those tests. Dr. Ramsey told us to take our baby to St. Louis immediately. He firmly and correctly diagnosed over the telephone and without even examining our baby what was wrong with her -- what other doctors were unable to diagnose after weeks of treatment and tests. She was in surgery within two hours of reaching St. Louis, and we were told she had been within days of death.

We will be forever grateful to Dr. Ramsey for all the years of excellent treatment, but most of all for the night he saved our precious little Madeline's life. He was a wonderful and talented physician and will be sorely missed by all who knew him and had the privilege of calling him their doctor. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his wife, Kim, and his children.

GINA and DAVID SHELL

Cape Girardeau