Beebe names orthopaedic wing after Dr. James P. Marvel Jr.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James P. Marvel Jr. had a broad smile on his face during the dedication ceremony when Jeffrey M. Fried, president and CEO of Beebe Medical Center, announced the seven other orthopaedic surgeons on the Beebe Medical staff wanted the newly remodeled orthopaedic wing to be named after Marvel.

“Dr. Marvel is the father of our orthopaedic program,” Fried told more than 120 friends, family members, patients, former patients, Beebe staff members and officials attending the dedication of the James P. Marvel Jr. MD wing.

“We are proud of our surgeons, and there is no greater tribute to Dr. Marvel than being recognized by his peers,” said Fried.

The remodeled wing, located on the third floor of the hospital, includes 29 patient rooms and a dedicated area for patients who have had joint replacement surgery. Staff members who work on the wing are specially trained and educated in the care of orthopaedic patients.

Janet McCarthy, chairwoman of the Beebe Medical Center board of trustees, said the recognition by Marvel’s fellow surgeons was a great testimony to him.

Marvel joined Beebe Medical Center in 1980, as its first orthopaedic surgeon. Today Beebe Medical has eight surgeons, and over the past four years it has been named by HealthGrades as a top orthopaedic program. For 2010, HealthGrades has ranked Beebe Medical Center among the top 5 percent of all hospitals in the nation. HealthGrades said Beebe Medical Center is the only hospital in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to receive five-star ratings for orthopaedic procedures measured by Health Grades.

Marvel has a private practice in Lewes, serves as the medical director for Beebe’s trauma program and was recently appointed to the Beebe Medical Center board of trustees. He is also active in the Medical Society of Delaware and serves on the board of the Medical Society Insurance Subsidiary and as chairman of the Delaware Medical Education Foundation.

“Dr. Marvel set the standard for this hospital, and all the surgeons here are in his debt,” Lewes orthopaedic surgeon and keynote speaker Dr. John E. Spieker said at the dedication.  
Marvel brought Spieker to Beebe in 1988. “I came because of his national reputation,” said Spieker, sharing some details of Marvel’s career with the audience.

Marvel, a grandson of Richard Beebe, one of the medical center’s co-founders, was accomplished early in his career. After earning his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1962, he interned at Memorial Hospital in Wilmington and started a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Jefferson. His residency was interrupted when he joined the U.S. Army, where he served as an orthopaedic surgeon at Fort Dix, N.J., and as an orthopaedic trauma surgeon in Vietnam.

He completed his residency at Jefferson and practiced with Dr. Anthony F. DePalma, professor of orthopaedic surgery.

For 10 years before coming to Beebe he was associated with Dr. Richard Rothman at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, which was affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania for the residency program.

Since he joined Beebe, he has served as chief of staff and chief of surgery. He has been trauma medical director since 1999, during which time Beebe Medical Center has gone through three reverification visits by the American College of Surgeons with trauma verification being approved at a Level III trauma center. He served on the Blue Ribbon Commission for Malpractice Insurance when there was no viable malpractice insurance carrier in Delaware. He served twice as the president of the Medical Society of Delaware and served as a delegate to the American Medical Association from the Medical Society of Delaware.

Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, also spoke during the dedication. He read the official tributes from the Delaware House of Representatives and from the Delaware Senate. Dr. Stephen R. Permut, professor and chairman at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and associate dean of academic affiliations at Temple University School of Medicine, read the official tribute to Marvel from the Medical Society of Delaware.

“It’s better to have something named in your honor than in your memory,” said Marvel after the speeches.