Ekkehard von Kuenssberg
Encyclopedia
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg MB ChB CBE
PRCPG FRCOG
FRCP (born Heidelberg
, 17 December 1913 - died Edinburgh
, 27 December 2000), was a German
-born pioneering Scottish
medical doctor. A founder and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners
, he was the co-signatory of a letter to the British Medical Journal
from GP's who had spotted early signs of the effects of Thalidomide
.
On announcement of his death, Sir Donald Irvine, president of the General Medical Council
, said:
branch of the family; he was unrelated to the branch of the family of Eberhard Freiherr von Kuensberg, the leader of the Sonderkommando that looted Russia
n art.
Eberhard von Künßberg was a renowned scholar in the history of German Law, a law professor at the University of Heidelberg, a prominent legal linguist and a pioneer in the field of legal geography. From the death of Richard Schroeder
in 1917 until von Künßberg's own death in 1941, he edited the Deutsche Rechtswoerterbuch. Künßberg married the Protestant raised Katharina Samson, the daughter of wealthy cloth manufacturer Gustav Samson, and Anna Goldschmidt, the fourth daughter of Jewish couple Hermann and Rosalie Goldschmidt.
where he became head boy, he then studied science at Innsbruck University from 1930. Using his skiing
skills, by night he would assist the escape of Jews across the Austrian mountains, who were being persecuted out of Germany by the rising Nazi regime.
Wishing to continuing his studies onward to become a medical doctor, in 1933 his mother concluded it was unsafe for her children in Germany, and so sent all five of them to England
. Ekkehard arrived in the university city of Cambridge
, where he became a laboratory technician. Still wishing to become a doctor, he wrote to the Dean
of every British medical school. After gaining only one positive reply from Sidney Smith of the University of Edinburgh
, he travelled there by bus
, and was offered a place immediately, exempt from paying university fees. During his studies he gained a blue for Field hockey
, founded the university ski club, and was a co-founder of the yacht club.
he was interned
for eighteen months in Liverpool
and Isle of Man
. On release, he returned to Edinburgh and became a locum
in the industrial district of Granton
, in the practise of Dr Charles E. Munro who was on war service. Trained in midwifery
at medical school, due to a shortage of nurses in the first six months of service he undertook 36 births.
In 1944, he was allowed to fulfil a desire to join the British Army
, where he was commissioned as a subaltern in the Royal Army Medical Corps
. At the end of the war in Germany, he was assigned to Heidelberg, where he interviewed the surgeon who had operated on the cancerous stomach ulcer of his father, an acknowledged conscientious objector
who died during the relatively simple operation. His mother survived the war hidden in her house, thanks to her house keeper and the efforts of friends. In 1947, Kuenssberg was demobbed as a Lieutenant Colonel, having been assistant director of hygiene in East Africa
.
Kuenssberg and Munro after World War II were at the centre of a changing medical system. The wartime Beveridge Report
was accepted in February 1943, and after a White Paper
in 1944 it fell to Clement Attlee
's Labour government to create the National Health Service
as part of the "cradle to grave" welfare-state reforms. Secretary of State for Health
Aneurin Bevan
drove through parliament the National Health Service Act 1946
, which came into effect on 5 July 1948.
While pre-war the GPs had been underfunded, the new NHS funded and equipped the new hospitals, but left the GPs distant from the diagnostic tools and ancillary help of the hospital. Kuenssberg and Munro established one of the first group practices, an innovative "co-operative" that linked Granton, Pilton
and Muirhouse
. Kuenssberg later became chairman of the Scottish General Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association
, and began to press with the chairman in England
, Northern Ireland
and Wales
for reform. The result of two years of negotiation as part of a team of four in London
with Minister of Health
Kenneth Robinson
, was the GP Charter. For his work and efforts, Kuenssberg was awarded the CBE
in 1969.
Kuenssberg was a co-founder of the Royal College of General Practitioners
. He was later a fellow, chairman of council; and finally president between 1976 and 1979. In his role he travelled the world to bring expertise to developing countries, and harmonise best global medical learning and practises. During the introduction of the contraceptive pill, the college council doubted its ability to complete a successful trial. Using debate and diplomacy, Kuenssberg persuaded his colleagues to go ahead with what remains today the biggest survey of the health of women taking the contraceptive pill, which continues to be quoted today. In 1974, he founded and chaired the European General Practice Research Workshop, promoting Europe-wide research.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal The Lancet
in 1961, Kuenssberg with neurologists Simpson and Stanton of the Northern General Hospital
, drew attention to some curious neurological disorders appearing in patients on thalidomide
. He was later invited to join the Dunlop committee, the only GP on the first committee on the safety of drugs.
Kuenssberg set up a group composed of local councillors, ministers, social workers and those in the medical profession who serviced Gorton under the title of "The Care Committee," which considered the social problems of a deprived area, and suggested ways of dealing with them and co-ordinating efforts. He advised and was a member of the committee of the Queen's Nursing Institute
, championing principles of community nursing could be propagated. On his retirement in 1981, a QNI scholarship bearing his name was created.
's Chief Political Correspondent Laura
.
After a long battle with Parkinson's disease
and cancer, he died in Haddington, East Lothian
on 27 December 2000.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
PRCPG FRCOG
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is a professional association based in the UK. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that is, pregnancy, childbirth, and female sexual and reproductive health...
FRCP (born Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, 17 December 1913 - died Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, 27 December 2000), was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born pioneering Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
medical doctor. A founder and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of General Practitioners
The Royal College of General Practitioners is the professional body for general practitioners in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including licensing, education, training, research and clinical standards. It is the largest of the medical royal colleges, with...
, he was the co-signatory of a letter to the British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
from GP's who had spotted early signs of the effects of Thalidomide
Thalidomide
Thalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
.
On announcement of his death, Sir Donald Irvine, president of the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
, said:
Background
Künßberg is an old German family, with roots back to the 12th century. Ekkehard's father was Eberhard Georg Otto von Künßberg (1881–1941), who traced his origins to the ThurnauThurnau
Thurnau is a municipality in the district Kulmbach, Germany.It is known for golfing as well as its potteries.Thurnau is known for transmitter Thurnau, the medium wave transmission site for Deutschlandfunk, a German national information radio station....
branch of the family; he was unrelated to the branch of the family of Eberhard Freiherr von Kuensberg, the leader of the Sonderkommando that looted Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n art.
Eberhard von Künßberg was a renowned scholar in the history of German Law, a law professor at the University of Heidelberg, a prominent legal linguist and a pioneer in the field of legal geography. From the death of Richard Schroeder
Richard Schroeder
Richard Alan "Rich" Schroeder is a two-time Olympic breaststroke swimmer from the United States. He competed at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; and earned a gold medal at both Games for his legs on the USA's winning 4x100 Medley Relay .-References:...
in 1917 until von Künßberg's own death in 1941, he edited the Deutsche Rechtswoerterbuch. Künßberg married the Protestant raised Katharina Samson, the daughter of wealthy cloth manufacturer Gustav Samson, and Anna Goldschmidt, the fourth daughter of Jewish couple Hermann and Rosalie Goldschmidt.
Biography
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg was born in 1913, one of five children born to law Professor Eberhard and biologist Dr Katte von Künßberg.Education
Educated at Schule Schloss SalemSchule Schloss Salem
Schule Schloss Salem is a boarding school with campuses in Hohenfels, Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is considered one of the most elite schools in Europe.It offers the German Abitur, as well as the International Baccalaureate...
where he became head boy, he then studied science at Innsbruck University from 1930. Using his skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
skills, by night he would assist the escape of Jews across the Austrian mountains, who were being persecuted out of Germany by the rising Nazi regime.
Wishing to continuing his studies onward to become a medical doctor, in 1933 his mother concluded it was unsafe for her children in Germany, and so sent all five of them to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Ekkehard arrived in the university city of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he became a laboratory technician. Still wishing to become a doctor, he wrote to the Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of every British medical school. After gaining only one positive reply from Sidney Smith of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, he travelled there by bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
, and was offered a place immediately, exempt from paying university fees. During his studies he gained a blue for Field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, founded the university ski club, and was a co-founder of the yacht club.
World War 2
On graduation in 1939, his alien status restricted both his ability to travel and to practise medicine. In May 1940 at the height of the Battle of BritainBattle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
he was interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
for eighteen months in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. On release, he returned to Edinburgh and became a locum
Locum
Locum, short for the Latin phrase locum tenens , is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another. For example, a locum doctor is a doctor who works in the place of the regular doctor when that doctor is absent, or when a hospital/practice is short-staffed...
in the industrial district of Granton
Granton, Edinburgh
Granton is a district in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland. Granton forms part of Edinburgh's waterfront along the Firth of Forth and is, historically, an industrial area having a large harbour. Granton is part of Edinburgh's large scale waterfront regeneration programme.-Name:Granton first appears...
, in the practise of Dr Charles E. Munro who was on war service. Trained in midwifery
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
at medical school, due to a shortage of nurses in the first six months of service he undertook 36 births.
In 1944, he was allowed to fulfil a desire to join the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, where he was commissioned as a subaltern in the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
. At the end of the war in Germany, he was assigned to Heidelberg, where he interviewed the surgeon who had operated on the cancerous stomach ulcer of his father, an acknowledged conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
who died during the relatively simple operation. His mother survived the war hidden in her house, thanks to her house keeper and the efforts of friends. In 1947, Kuenssberg was demobbed as a Lieutenant Colonel, having been assistant director of hygiene in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
.
Medical career
He returned to Granton in 1946, and went into partnership with Charles Munro. In the next 25years, the practise developed into new premises, and by the time of his retirement in 1981 had nine partners.Kuenssberg and Munro after World War II were at the centre of a changing medical system. The wartime Beveridge Report
Beveridge Report
The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as the Beveridge Report was an influential document in the founding of the Welfare State in the United Kingdom...
was accepted in February 1943, and after a White Paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
in 1944 it fell to Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
's Labour government to create the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
as part of the "cradle to grave" welfare-state reforms. Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
drove through parliament the National Health Service Act 1946
National Health Service Act 1946
The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales. Though the title 'National Health Service' implies one health service for the United Kingdom, in reality a separate NHS was created for England and Wales accountable to...
, which came into effect on 5 July 1948.
While pre-war the GPs had been underfunded, the new NHS funded and equipped the new hospitals, but left the GPs distant from the diagnostic tools and ancillary help of the hospital. Kuenssberg and Munro established one of the first group practices, an innovative "co-operative" that linked Granton, Pilton
Pilton, Edinburgh
Pilton is a residential district of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It is to the north of Ferry Road and west of Granton....
and Muirhouse
Muirhouse
Muirhouse is a district in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is west of Granton and the housing estates of East Pilton and West Pilton, and East of Davidsons Mains...
. Kuenssberg later became chairman of the Scottish General Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
, and began to press with the chairman in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
for reform. The result of two years of negotiation as part of a team of four in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Minister of Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
Kenneth Robinson
Kenneth Robinson
Sir Kenneth Robinson PC was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Social Services.-Early life:The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel...
, was the GP Charter. For his work and efforts, Kuenssberg was awarded the CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
in 1969.
Kuenssberg was a co-founder of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of General Practitioners
The Royal College of General Practitioners is the professional body for general practitioners in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including licensing, education, training, research and clinical standards. It is the largest of the medical royal colleges, with...
. He was later a fellow, chairman of council; and finally president between 1976 and 1979. In his role he travelled the world to bring expertise to developing countries, and harmonise best global medical learning and practises. During the introduction of the contraceptive pill, the college council doubted its ability to complete a successful trial. Using debate and diplomacy, Kuenssberg persuaded his colleagues to go ahead with what remains today the biggest survey of the health of women taking the contraceptive pill, which continues to be quoted today. In 1974, he founded and chaired the European General Practice Research Workshop, promoting Europe-wide research.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
in 1961, Kuenssberg with neurologists Simpson and Stanton of the Northern General Hospital
Northern General Hospital
The Northern General Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Sheffield, England. It hosts most major departments, including a busy Accident and Emergency for adults...
, drew attention to some curious neurological disorders appearing in patients on thalidomide
Thalidomide
Thalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
. He was later invited to join the Dunlop committee, the only GP on the first committee on the safety of drugs.
Kuenssberg set up a group composed of local councillors, ministers, social workers and those in the medical profession who serviced Gorton under the title of "The Care Committee," which considered the social problems of a deprived area, and suggested ways of dealing with them and co-ordinating efforts. He advised and was a member of the committee of the Queen's Nursing Institute
Queen's Nursing Institute
The Queen’s Nursing Institute is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.-History:...
, championing principles of community nursing could be propagated. On his retirement in 1981, a QNI scholarship bearing his name was created.
Personal life
On graduation from medical school in 1939, he married fellow doctor, Constance. The couple had four children, two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son is well known Scottish businessman Professor Nick Kuenssberg OBE, while his daughter/their granddaughter is the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Chief Political Correspondent Laura
Laura Kuenssberg
Laura Kuenssberg is a Scottish journalist, currently working as the Business Editor for ITV News.-Early life:The daughter of Scottish businessman Professor Nick Kuenssberg OBE, and his wife Sally Kuenssberg CBE, her paternal grandfather was German-born Dr. Ekke von Kuenssberg, a founder and...
.
After a long battle with Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and cancer, he died in Haddington, East Lothian
Haddington, East Lothian
The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...
on 27 December 2000.