Dr. William Browne, Pioneer In Treating Alcoholism
Bill Schenley
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04228/361833.stm
Dr. William J. Browne, 89, who created an alcoholic-treatment program
at St. Francis Hospital and was among the first physicians to diagnose
alcoholism as a medical condition, died of heart failure Wednesday.
A memorial service is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Aug. 28, at Longwood at
Oakmont retirement community, 500 Route 909, Verona.
"He was a pioneer in the treatment of alcoholism and addiction," said
Michael T. Flaherty, executive director of the Institute for Research,
Education and Training in Addictions, Downtown.
Flaherty, who headed the St. Francis drug-treatment program beginning
in 1972, remembers Browne as a quiet, respectful physician whose
patients were always his top priority. "He never wanted the limelight
or leadership roles. He didn't want to get involved in administrative
details that would prevent him from treating patients."
His wife, Martha, said, "It just wasn't in his personality to be
boss."
During his more than 40 years at St. Francis, Dr. Browne helped dozens
of families and hundreds of lives affected by addictions. In fact, a
young aide who cared for Dr. Browne in his final months told him that
the aide's father had been treated at a St. Francis clinic and had
recently marked his 20th year of sobriety.
Dr. Abraham Twerski, founder and medical director emeritus of Gateway
Rehabilitation Center, worked with Dr. Browne at St. Francis in
treating alcoholics.
"He was a very gentle, soft-spoken person. It was interesting to watch
him deal with some very difficult alcoholics. He never got riled with
them. They couldn't provoke him to anger. He always kept his cool and
it would disarm the angry alcoholic.
"He was just a great guy to be with." Dr. Browne's patients also
included teens with whom he would engage one of his other passions,
chess.
"There was no generation gap between (Dr. Browne) and his kids when
they were playing chess," Flaherty said. He also enjoyed opera and
chamber music.
Within the addiction-treatment community, Flaherty said, Dr. Browne
was known as one of the first physicians to insist that alcoholism be
designated as a medical condition, rather than diagnosing the patient
with "alcohol-induced dementia" or some similar label.
"He was one of the courageous ones who said, 'Let's call it what it
is.'"
Dr. Browne created the Alcoholic Treatment Program at St. Francis,
which offered outpatient treatment for patients following
detoxification, in 1955. From a staff of three meeting two evenings
each week, the program developed into an internationally recognized
center for treating chemical dependency.
In the early 1990s, he was one of a group of clinicians invited to the
Soviet Union for three weeks to show Soviet doctors his methods for
treating alcoholism.
His professional career included work for the Veterans Administration
on Highland Drive, and he served for a time as clinical director at
Woodville State Hospital, where he was on staff from 1965 to 1976.
Dr. Browne had a particular interest in the effects of alcoholism on
marriage. After a presentation on the topic at the 1959 annual meeting
of the American Psychiatric Association, a story about it ran in Time
magazine under the headline, "Souses' Spouses."
The story attracted a number of angry letters writers who thought Dr.
Browne was blaming spouses for their partners' addiction.
He also published papers on the psychiatric development of strong
women reformers, such as Jane Addams, Dorothea Dix, Saint Theresa of
Avila and Florence Nightingale.
Before Dr. Browne retired in 1996, St. Francis started an annual
symposium in his honor, calling it the William J. Browne Conference on
Chemical Dependency.
Dr. Browne was born in Detroit and grew up in Peoria, Ill. He earned a
bachelor's degree at the University of Notre Dame, a master's in
science at the University of Illinois, and a medical degree at the
University of Chicago. He later served in the U.S. Public Health
Service and the Coast Guard.
He is survived by his wife, Martha; daughters Cindy Browne of Ann
Arbor, Mich., Becky Davies of Irving, Texas, and Sara Thomas of
Basalt, Colo.; and four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to
Family Hospice and Palliative Care, 250 Mt. Lebanon Blvd., Castle
Shannon, 15234; the American Parkinson Disease Association, 490 E.
North Ave., Suite 500, Pittsburgh, 15212; or the Pittsburgh Chess
Club, 5604 Solway St., Pittsburgh, 15217.
English-Bertucci Funeral Home, Inc., 378 Maryland Ave., Oakmont, is
handling arrangements.