{"id":20989,"date":"2025-04-25T22:10:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/david-paton-creator-of-flying-eye-hospital-dies-at-94\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T22:10:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:10:42","slug":"david-paton-creator-of-flying-eye-hospital-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/david-paton-creator-of-flying-eye-hospital-dies-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"David Paton, Creator of Flying Eye Hospital, Dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">David Paton, an idealistic and innovative ophthalmologist who started Project Orbis, converting a United Airlines jet into a flying hospital that took surgeons to developing countries to operate on patients and educate local doctors, died on April 3 at his home in Reno, Nev. He was 94.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His death was confirmed by his son, Townley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The son of a prominent New York eye surgeon whose patients included the Shah of Iran and the financier J. Pierpont Morgan\u2019s horse, Dr. Paton (pronounced PAY-ton) was teaching at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in the early 1970s when he became discouraged by increasing cases of preventable blindness in far-flung places.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMore eye doctors were needed,\u201d he wrote in his memoir, \u201cSecond Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor\u2019s Odyssey\u201d (2011), \u201cbut equally important was the need to beef up the existing doctors\u2019 medical education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But how?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He considered shipping trunks of equipment \u2014 almost the way a circus would \u2014 but that presented logistical challenges. He pondered the possibility of using a medical ship like the one that Project Hope, a humanitarian group, sent around the world. That was too slow for him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShortly after the first moon landing in 1969, thinking big was becoming a reality,\u201d Dr. Paton wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And then a moonshot idea struck him: \u201cCould an aircraft be the answer? A large enough aircraft could be converted into an operating theater, a teaching classroom and all the necessary facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All he needed was a plane. He asked the military to donate one, but that was a nonstarter. He approached several universities for the money to buy one, but administrators turned him down, saying the idea wasn\u2019t feasible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDavid was willing to take risks that others wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Bruce Spivey, the founding president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said in an interview. \u201cHe was charming. He was inspiring. And he didn\u2019t quit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Paton decided to raise funds on his own. In 1973, he founded Project Orbis with a group of wealthy, well-connected society figures like the Texas oilman <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1993\/06\/15\/obituaries\/l-f-mccollum-a-philanthropist-and-a-former-conoco-chief-91.html\" title=\"\">Leonard F. McCollum<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1983\/12\/29\/style\/betsy-t-wainwright-becomes-a-bride.html\" title=\"\">Betsy Trippe Wainwright<\/a>, the daughter of the Pan American World Airways founder <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/04\/04\/obituaries\/juan-trippe-81-dies-us-aviation-pioneer.html\" title=\"\">Juan Trippe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1980, Mr. Trippe helped persuade the United Airlines chief executive Edward Carlson to donate a DC-8 jet. The United States Agency for International Development contributed $1.25 million to convert the plane into a hospital with an operating room, recovery area and a classroom equipped with televisions, so local medical workers could watch surgeries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Surgeons and nurses volunteered their services, agreeing to spend two to four weeks abroad. The first flight, in 1982, was to Panama. The plane then went to Peru, Jordan, Nepal and beyond. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/09\/06\/world\/mother-teresa-hope-of-the-despairing-dies-at-87.html\" title=\"\">Mother Teresa<\/a> once visited. So did the Cuban leader <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/26\/world\/americas\/fidel-castro-dies.html\" title=\"\">Fidel Castro<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1999, The Sunday Times of London\u2019s magazine sent a reporter to Cuba to write about the plane, now known as the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orbis.org\/en\/what-we-do\/flying-eye-hospital\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Flying Eye Hospital<\/a>. One of the patients who arrived was a 14-year-old girl named Julia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIn developed nations, Julia\u2019s condition would have been little more than an irritation,\u201d The Sunday Times article said. \u201cIt is almost certain she had uveitis, an inflammation inside the eye, which can be cleared with drops. In Britain, even cats are easily treated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her doctor was Edward Holland, a prominent eye surgeon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHolland uses tiny knives to make openings that allow him to get his instruments into the eye, and soon he is pulling at Julia\u2019s scar tissue,\u201d The Sunday Times article said. \u201cAs the tissue is pulled away, a dark and liquid pupil, unseen for a decade, is revealed. It is an intimate and moving moment; this is medicine\u2019s chamber music. Next, he breaks up and removes the cataract, and implants a lens so that the eye will keep its shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Cuban ophthalmologists watching in the viewing room applauded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But after the surgery, Julia still couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAnd then a minor miracle begins,\u201d the article said. \u201cAs the swelling begins to go down, she makes discoveries about the world around her. Minute by minute she can see something new.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">David Paton was born on Aug. 16, 1930, in Baltimore, and grew up in Manhattan. His father, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1984\/02\/28\/obituaries\/richard-paton-eye-surgeon.html\" title=\"\">Richard Townley Paton<\/a>, specialized in corneal transplants and founded the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration. His mother, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1927\/12\/19\/archives\/helen-meserves-plans-nine-young-women-to-attend-her-at-wedding-to.html\" title=\"\">Helen (Meserve) Paton<\/a>, was an interior designer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his memoir, he described growing up \u201camong the fine, intellectually sharp, widely traveled persons of the Establishment.\u201d His father practiced on Park Avenue. His mother threw parties at their home on the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">David attended the Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pa. There, he met James A. Baker III, a Texan who later became secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan. They were roommates at Princeton University and lifelong best friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDavid came from a very privileged background, but he was down to earth and just a very likable guy,\u201d Mr. Baker said in an interview. \u201cHe had his objectives in life straight. He was a hell of a lot better student than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After graduating from Princeton in 1952, David earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He worked in senior positions at the Wilmer Eye Institute and served as chairman of the ophthalmology department at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1979, while still trying to procure a plane for Project Orbis, he became the medical director of the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAmong my duties,\u201d he wrote in his memoir, \u201cwas providing eye care for many of the princes and princesses of the kingdom \u2014 about 5,000 of each, I was told \u2014 and it seemed that all of them insisted on being treated exclusively by the doctor in charge, no matter how minor their complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Paton\u2019s marriages to Jane Sterling Treman and Jane Franke ended in divorce. He married Diane Johnston in 1985. She <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legacy.com\/us\/obituaries\/kentucky\/name\/diane-paton-obituary?id=37748572\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">died<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to his son, he is survived by two granddaughters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Paton left his role as medical director of Project Orbis in 1987, after a dispute with the board of directors. That year, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Although his official connection with the organization had ended, he occasionally served as an informal adviser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now called Orbis International, the organization is on its third plane, an MD-10 donated by Federal Express.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">From 2014 to 2023, Orbis performed more than 621,000 surgeries and procedures, according to its most recent annual report, and offered more than 424,000 training sessions to doctors, nurses and other providers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe plane is just such a unique venue,\u201d Dr. Hunter Cherwek, the organization\u2019s vice president of clinical services and technologies, said in an interview. \u201cIt was just an incredibly bold and visionary idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/25\/science\/david-paton-dead.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Paton, an idealistic and innovative ophthalmologist who started Project Orbis, converting a United Airlines jet into a flying hospital<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[584,6308,3870,6306,441,843,6309,6307,6305,397,639],"class_list":["post-20989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-airlines-and-airplanes","tag-baker","tag-blindness","tag-david-1930-2025","tag-deaths-obituaries","tag-eyes-and-eyesight","tag-james-a-iii","tag-orbis-international","tag-paton","tag-philanthropy","tag-surgery-and-surgeons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>David Paton, Creator of Flying Eye Hospital, Dies at 94 - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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