FOR THE RECORD
Reagan’s humor is recalled
By Jan Jarvis
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
 ARLINGTON – Dr. Marc Hahn, who administered a
nerve block during hand surgery for President Reagan,
remembers a man who never lost his sense of humor.
Hahn remembers Reagan being upbeat during a routine
visit before surgery.
“I asked him about his past surgical history and
to that he responded, ‘You do know I was shot once?’ ” Hahn
said. “When we took him to the operating room for
surgery he quipped with all of us.”
The jokes continued throughout the four-hour surgery.
Hahn, who is dean of the University of North Texas Health
Science Center’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine,
was 32 when he administered a regional anesthetic nerve
block to Reagan.
Hahn, who was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center, said he was selected to administer the nerve
block because he had expertise in regional anesthesia.
It was a great honor to take care of Reagan, Hahn said.
It was the final surgical procedure Reagan had before
he left office in 1989.
Hahn, who served 12 years in the Army, said that Reagan
tolerated the procedure well and that during the two
days the president was hospitalized, Reagan was always
congenial.
“He really had the presence of a leader, yet he
conveyed the sense of warmth and approachability of a
grandfather,” Hahn said. “He had such a great
sense of humor.”
He also had plenty of jelly beans on hand to get him
through the hospitalization.
“In all the rooms of his hospital suite, he had
jars of jelly beans, which he shared with medical staff,” Hahn
said. “He loved jelly beans.” |
