Jerome W. Bettman
1909-July 7, 2006
Woodside, California

Jerome W. Bettman of Woodside, who served at various times in his career as chairman of the ophthalmology departments at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the California Pacific Medical Center, died July 7 at Stanford Medical Center. He was 97.

Born in San Francisco, he attended Lowell High School and went to the University of California at Berkeley for his undergraduate and medical school degrees. He did his residency in ophthalmology at Stanford.

In addition to having a private practice, Dr. Bettman served on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco. He taught many of the ophthalmologists on the West Coast during their residencies and in the basic science courses at Stanford. He was the author of many books and research papers.

A frequent expert witness in medical malpractice cases for both patients and doctors, he was an early advocate for medical ethics and making sure patients understood their options and gave informed consent, say family members.

During World War II, he provided ophthalmologic services to Japanese-Americans interned at Tule Lake. When an infectious disease, trachoma, which causes blindness, swept through the camp, he examined hundreds of patients and operated on 16 of them.

For many years, Dr. Bettman practiced medicine in San Francisco. The family moved to Woodside in 1968, about 10 years after Stanford moved its medical operations to Palo Alto. Dr. Bettman played a critical role in setting up the new Stanford hospital and medical school, serving as acting chairman. After the transition, he helped establish the ophthalmology program and Stanford's successor hospital in San Francisco, Pacific Medical Center.

Into his 90s he continued to go on rounds at Stanford and California Pacific Medical Center. He met with friends on a weekly basis to study Shakespeare and continued a 50-year tradition of attending the Shakespeare festival at Ashland, Oregon, for two weeks every year. He was a patron of the San Francisco Opera for 50 years.

He is survived by his daughter, Jean Dana of Saratoga, son Jerome W. Bettman Jr. of Albuquerque; five grandchildren; and five great-granddaughters. His wife, Amy Herz Bettman, died in 2000.

Tags: teacher/educator, public service