Brothers Deepen Family’s Strong Medical Presence in Louisiana

SHREVEPORT, LA—The Sewell brothers grew up on an old plantation in Boyce, a central Louisiana town near Alexandria, spending summers working on the family farm. “It was a place like where Huckleberry Finn and Mark Twain would hang out,” said Bennett N. Sewell III, MD, the eldest of the trio of sons who became physicians.

Bennett, the eldest, completed his undergraduate and medical school studies at Tulane University, specializing in pathology. James Dixon “Jack” Sewell, MD, a year younger, also received his undergraduate degree from Tulane and then transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) to complete his medical school education, specializing in OB/GYN. Patrick E. Sewell, MD, seven years younger than Jack, chose LSU for both degree programs, and pursued a radiology internship until he realized a residency in psychiatry would provide him with more interaction with patients.

“We had great role models,” said the youngest Sewell. “Our uncle and great-uncle were also physicians. Our dad took over my grandfather’s practice. When he died at the age of 93, he was the oldest doctor in Louisiana with a medical license, though I’m not sure he was any good to anybody at that age! Kidding aside, he took good care of patients with diabetes and high blood pressure until he was 89.”

Bennett headed to Austin, Texas, where he and a dozen pathologists developed a significant independent pathology lab with 1,200 employees throughout the southwest before he returned to Shreveport for retirement. Jack, who died in 2006, delivered nearly 10,000 babies in Slidell. “He had delivered practically everyone in Slidell,” said Bennett. “He’d even delivered the two people who were called to his home to confirm his death.” Patrick practices psychiatry part-time and pursues entrepreneurial ventures with his older brother.

“Bennett and I have been in real estate together since 1976, and got into the oil business in the late 1990s, while also practicing medicine,” said Patrick. “After our dad sold the cattle business, he grew soybeans, corn and cotton, and we got involved in that, too. We were all cattle ranchers, cotton farmers and physicians.”

An important entrepreneurial venture for the brothers involved Patrick’s son, Patrick E. Sewell, Jr., MD, a fourth-generation physician and an interventional radiologist at Bolivar Medical Center in Cleveland, Miss. About five years ago, he had grown concerned about the radiation dose exposure to young patients during CT diagnostic imaging and began investigating ways to lower the dose.

With the assistance of Swedish radiologists, and his dad and Uncle Bennett, they discovered a novel solution to reduce patient dose during CT scanning via the Clarity™ CT Solution software. The family established Shreveport-based Sapheneia, a global, ISO-certified imaging services company specializing in diagnostic and analytical image processing solutions. (See related story on Sapheneia.)

The brothers have given equal time to their creative endeavors. Bennett has consistently produced some of the region’s most interesting and unusual sculptures, crafted from unique objects ferreted from salvage yards and flea markets in myriad shapes, colors and textures. “It’s the type of artwork that captures your attention and makes you scratch your head a bit,” joked Bennett. His exhibit, It’s What You Make of It: Works by Bennett Sewell, was on display through July 31 at Meadows Museum of Art in Shreveport.

“I do all of this because it’s fun to think about human behavior,” he said, of the sculptures representing dogs with human characteristics, such as “Little Billy Weems,” “Mavis ‘Just Call me Dixie’ Miller,” and “Black Jack Schmidt.” Each sculpture comes with a unique, hilarious story, such as that of “Black Jack Schmidt”: “The deal I gave you was a good one, but you screwed it up when you wouldn’t put in more money. I went out of my way to make you rich. Now get out of my face or I will call my associate to bring a wheelchair to help you out of the building.” Mavis comments: “He’s always been like that. He stole my food as a puppy and blamed it on other dogs. As far as he’s concerned, it’s dog eat dog. He feels the rules weren’t made for him. Beware his smile or glad hand.” View his work on www.BennettSewellArt.com.

When he’s not hitting the links, Pat dabbles in poetry, has published several books, and also paints. His artwork was recently displayed in the Louisiana State Museum Show. View his work on www.PatSewellArt.com.   

Tags:

Bookmark:

Digg

Facebook

Technorati

Newsvine

Google

Related: