House Calls

Now that Dr. Gresham Bayne is officially retired from the grueling day-after-day, night-after-night regimen that both sated his intellect and sapped his generous soul, his stories shine a starkly realistic and humorous light on his life's chosen profession.

Throughout an ER/trauma career that spanned more than four decades and included too many medical roles to count - blame it on his ADHD; he does - Dr. Bayne treated tens of thousands of patients, first in the traditional mode of ER units and hospitals, then with his cutting-edge venture of "Call Doctor," providing in-home patient care.

Buoyed by $30 million from big-name investors, his San Diego-based practice gained national media attention and glowing praise in the 1980 and '90s from medicine's highest quarters - until it came time for lawmakers to legislate real and lasting changes to healthcare. That's when things got really messed up.

House Calls traces Dr. Bayne's pioneering, arrows-in-the-back role of treating mostly elderly patients, the wealthy and not-so, who welcomed him into their homes.

Eventually, the daring venture didn't succeed, but the age-old practice of house calls has since become more widely accepted, which he considers a major leap forward. Meanwhile, the issue of how best to provide and somehow fund healthcare for more than 300 million Americans remains more contentious than ever.

Let me add that Dr. C. Gresham Bayne is the smartest person I've ever known, an appraisal that detracts not a scintilla from his genuine kindness and devotion to his patients.

What "The Godfather of Home-care Medicine" doesn't know, hasn't diagnosed or can't cheerily elucidate you about probably isn't worth knowing, though he could use some help with his pickleball serve.