Paschal, Frank, 1849-1925

San Antonio physician, President of the Board of Health, City Health Officer, and Director of the City Hospital. Dr. Paschal was President of the West Texas Medical Association in 1893 and served as President of the Texas State Medical Association in 1903. He was an active crusader for public health measures, and was instrumental in the establishment of the first tuberculosis sanitorium in Texas, at Carlsbad.

Dr. Frank Paschal was a San Antonio physician who was an active crusader for public health measures and was widely known for his achievements in tuberculosis treatment and control at a time when the disease accounted for forty per cent of the deaths in San Antonio. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Franklin L. Paschal, on October 22, 1849. He grew up in both San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, his family returning to San Antonio in 1866. He began studying medicine with Dr. George Cupples at the age of 19, then he entered Louisville Medical College, graduating in 1873 with three of the six prizes for best standing . He returned to San Antonio in 1874 after a one year internship at Louisville Hospital and left six months later to establish a very successful practice in Chihuahua, Mexico as a surgeon specializing in the removal of bladder stones. On the way to Chihuahua, he worked for four months to combat a smallpox epidemic in Presidio on the Mexican border. He married Ladie Napier on a visit to San Antonio in 1878. They returned to live in San Antonio in 1892 with their 5 children, where he established a busy surgical practice.

Dr. Paschal became president of the West Texas Medical Society in 1893 and was health officer for San Antonio from 1899 to 1903, serving as attending physician and managing City Hospital. He was a member of the state Board of Medical Examiners from 1901 to 1903, was elected president by acclamation of the Medical Association of Texas in 1903, was a charter member of the American College of Surgeons in 1914, and served as president of the Texas Surgical Society in 1920. He founded the Associated Charities of San Antonio and helped organize and build the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital. He was one of the first to appreciate the seriousness of tuberculosis in Texas, and was instrumental in the establishment of a sanitarium in Carlsbad in 1912.

In addition, Dr. Paschal contributed many articles to medical journals, and for years he worked with the Medical Association of Texas to improve public health, medical education, and the medical profession. He died on December 20, 1925, and was buried in San Antonio. He was survived by two daughters and three sons. Two sons were physicians – Frank L. and George H. Paschal.

Sources:

Paschal, Frank. Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa44

Nixon, Pat Ireland. A century of medicine in San Antonio : the story of medicine in Bexar County, Texas. San Antonio, Tex: Privately published by the author, 1936.