Dr. Edwin Leibold -- Derogatory Descriptions Of Physician Not Justified

Re: The Aug. 6 article titled, "Rural exposure - a doctor in Forks."

The article, written by health-care issues specialist Peter C. MacPherson of Arlington, Va., properly praises the work of a Forks country doctor who was placed in the community in 1975 by the government program National Health Services Corp. (NHSC).

However, unfortunately, the author found it necessary to describe his predecessor, a doctor who served Forks for 25-plus years, in a contrastingly derogatory way. He stated that the NHSC doctor replaced Dr. Edwin Leibold, "a curmudgeonly giant (who) would deliver a baby and accept a chocolate cake for his fee or tend to injured animals brought to his office."

Dr. Leibold, after serving as a physician and surgeon in the U.S. Navy, came to Forks by choice in the late 1940s. He, assisted by his wife, a registered nurse, provided the logging community with excellent medical services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without relief, commencing during times preceding Medicare, Medicaid and usually-insured patients.

Yes, he often freely gave his services to needy, impoverished patients who may have later attempted to pay him by the offer of things, such as a chocolate cake. Yes, he may have accepted because he was a gracious man who recognized their need to give him something. And yes, being the only doctor in town, he may have treated some poor injured "critters," but he certainly didn't do this in his medical office.

It is unjustified that Mr. MacPherson, in his effort to bolster funding chances for a troubled federally-subsidized medical program, NHSC (only 12 percent of the rurally-placed doctors stay in the communities) found it necessary to demean the program's predecessor, a truly wonderful, dedicated country doctor.

Dr. Leibold was a caring "pioneer giant" who chose to devote his medical career to the community of Forks. He worked and raised his family there because he loved the place, he loved the people, and the people loved him.

John W. Maxwell Tacoma