“Becoming a physician is a true vocation.” This is an axiom that Dr. Eugene Dauterive and his nephew, Dr. Edward Weeks “Ned” Dauterive both believe wholeheartedly. The branches of their family tree are abundant with men and women called to serve both the art and science of medicine. Dr. Henry Dauterive, father to Eugene and grandfather to Ned, founded Dauterive Hospital in a building adjacent to the former Mount Carmel Academy on Duperier Street. The year was 1920, and for the next 101 years, patients in New Iberia have had doctors Dauterive to depend on. That long history will end with Dr. Ned Dauterive’s retirement in a few years. Time to look back on the family that has given their empathy as humans and skill as physicians to keep New Iberian happy and healthy through the years.

Dr. Henry Dauterive was born in 1885 at home and raised on his father’s farm. In 1908, he left New Iberia to study medicine at Tulane University. After further surgical training after studying in New Orleans, and getting further surgical training in Chicago’s Mercy Hospital and a stint in Europe during World War I he returned to his hometown. Dr. Dauterive recognized the need for community healthcare. The hospital originally only had 4 or 5 beds; it expanded through the years to 47 beds before moving to North Lewis Street, where it is now the Iberia Medical Center’s North Campus.

Dr. Eugene Dauterive remembers “running in and out of the hospital” as a small boy. Dr. Gene was born in 1927, seven years after the hospital was established. He also recalled that the hospital had an elevator to move patients between the first and second floor. The elevator was operated by a pulley on a rope. The rooms only had swinging doors into the halls. 

He said that his decision to become a physician was shaped by not only his own desire to serve, but also the nights he spent accompanying his father on house calls. “After a full day at the hospital, my father would come home, eat a quick supper, and make any house calls he needed to attend to, and I would be invited along,” he said. “Sometimes, when the family could see that he was exhausted, a patient would call during supper. We would make them wait for him to call back. But it wasn’t long before he’d get on the phone; he cared deeply for his patients.”

Dr. Henry’s influence went deep with all of his sons. “Two out of the three of us became physicians. Henry Jr. started to go to med school, but he didn’t do well. He was brilliant, but he was not interested in medicine. He switched to law, and excelled in it,”  Dr. Gene said. “My brother Weeks and I followed in our father’s footsteps. Weeks, who was Ned’s father, became a general surgeon after finishing pre-med and med school in five years and serving in a MASH unit in the Korean War. I became an OB-GYN four years behind him. By 1960, I was back in New Iberia, establishing my practice.”

Good doctors need good support, and Dr. Gene recalls that the days of the first hospital were made easier by the efforts of nurses and orderlies. “Millie Viator put in some hard work in the early days. We would call her a surgical supervisor now, but back then she was a nurse. She would do her nursing duties plus clean up after procedures, wash sheets, anything that needed to be taken care of,” he said. Orderlies kept the operation flowing smoothly, Dr. Gene fondly recalled Eddie Lee, who not only worked as an orderly at the hospital, but also helped the family, often babysitting or running errands. “Eddie Lee was like an uncle to my siblings and me, he would take care of us, he took us fishing, drove us around,” he said.

Speaking with Dr. Ned Dauterive, he said practicing in the small town you’ve grown up in is a special experience. “A lot of people have the mistaken impression that bigger cities mean better care. That is just not so. In New Iberia, there have been patients that have been treated by all three generations of Dauterive doctors. They become your extended family, you have a stake in their lives, you really know them,” said Dr. Ned, smiling. “One gentleman I was treating, he had been a patient of my father’s. He told me, ‘You’re a good doctor, but you’ll never be as good as your daddy.’ I try to live up to that with all my patients.”

Dr. Ned, who has been a vascular surgeon in practice for over 40 years, said medicine has changed drastically since his early years. “There have been amazing innovations in the past several years. There’s improved diagnostics and methods that make open chest surgeries unnecessary. Stents, graphs, lasers and balloons are much less invasive. The two best inventions in my opinion are the laparoscope and CAT scan,” he said. “There were times a surgeon would go into surgery thinking they’d find one thing, and find out it was something completely different. There’s not much that can hide from a CAT scan.”

“Being a physician still takes stamina and dedication. Hospital-based doctors still have irregular hours and calls in the middle of the night. There are some specialties that are more diagnostic rather than interventionist, and physicians in those fields can control their hours better.”

There’s much more to it than the science of medicine; you must also learn the art of medicine. You have to learn to interact with people, you have to be able to react positively, smile through tough situations. I always say, it’s natural for patients to be anxious. If you see me anxious, run.”

The century of Dauterive doctors in New Iberia is coming to an end. There are still physicians in the family, but they have moved away  to other places. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of New Iberians who are grateful for the years of kindness and care given by these dedicated healthcare professionals. 

 

Dauterive Doctors

Some of medical professionals in the Dauterive family

Dr. Henry Dauterive, (deceased) General practice & surgery

Dr. Edward Weeks Dauterive, (deceased) General Surgery

Dr. Eugene Dauterive, Obstetrics & Gynecology

Dr. Edward Weeks “Ned” Dauterive, Jr., Vascular Surgery

Dr. Alton Dauterive, Vascular Surgery (Gulfport, MS)

Dr. Edward Weeks Dauterive, III, Gastroenterology (Slidell)

Dr. Matthew Dauterive, Pulmonologist (Lafayette)

Dr. Ellen Claire Dauterive, Internal Medicine (Jackson, Mississippi)

Dr, Burt Bujard, Internal Medicine

Dr. Alton “Toonie” Bujard (deceased), Radiology

Dr. Wayne Bujard Cestia, Family Medicine (Lafayette)