Lamar Soutter Exhibit - His Medical School and Residency Years

At Massachusetts General Hospital

Timeline

Exhibit Home

Source: Massachusetts General Hospital Archives and Special Collections

Source: Massachusetts General Hospital Archives and Special Collections

Source: Massachusetts General Hospital Archives and Special Collections

After Dr. Soutter left his residencies in New York City, he settled back in Boston, his hometown.

In 1940 Dr. Soutter went to work at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to assist on the surgical staff (see left above for a picture of the Outpatient Building in the 1940s). He was instrumental in establishing the blood bank there in 1942 (see left center) and was its first Director. He felt that the bank was needed for the civil defense of the population in case of disaster, as World War II had begun. To fund the blood bank, Soutter solicited money from outside sources to pay for the refrigerator and other equipment. He and his staff created new techniques for blood filtration and purification. Patients were blood typed in advance of their operative procedures. A campaign was begun to actively advertise for donors and an elaborate system of managing donors from patient contacts was established. The volunteer staff was diligent and hardworking. When the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire occurred in Boston in November 1942, large amounts of stored plasma from the MGH blood bank played a major role in the treatment of the 500 injured.

Dr. Soutter is shown in the bottom photograph at MGH in the 1940s.

Web Resources for Further Information:

Blood Donor Center at Massachusetts General Hospital

Celebrating 60 years of giving the gift of life - 60th anniversary of the MGH Blood Transfusion Service, April 5, 2002.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Sources used for this page:

Soutter, Lamar. "The Tenth Birthday of the Blood Bank," The News, 112, May 1952.
Massachusetts General Hospital Archives and Special Collections.