Dr. William Hitzig

Dr. William Maxwell Hitzig, MD (1904–1983) was a prominent New York internist and cardiologist, known as a skilled diagnostician, clinician, and humanitarian. He served on the faculty of Mount Sinai Hospital for nearly 50 years (professor emeritus) and was also affiliated with Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Key Background

• Birth and Early Life: Born December 15, 1904, in Bukowina, Austria (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He immigrated to the U.S. as a child in 1914 with his family. He graduated from Columbia College in 1926 and Cornell University Medical College in 1930, with training at Mount Sinai Hospital.
• Career Highlights: He specialized in cardiovascular disease and was an attending physician at Mount Sinai and Doctors Hospital. He also served as an NYPD police surgeon. In 1934, he devised an early method for measuring circulation time to the right heart (using ether injection). He was known for making house calls, even to less prominent patients, and had a warm bedside manner.

Notable Humanitarian Work

• Hiroshima Maidens Project (1955): With Norman Cousins (editor of Saturday Review), he helped bring 24 young Japanese women disfigured by the atomic bomb to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery and care. He observed the 1946 Bikini atomic test and later received the key to the City of Hiroshima for his efforts.
• Polish "Rabbits" (Ravensbrück Survivors): He traveled to Poland (with Cousins and Caroline Ferriday) to examine women who survived Nazi medical experiments at Ravensbrück concentration camp. His assessments were key to bringing many to the U.S. for treatment.

Connection to Norman Cousins

He was Norman Cousins’ longtime personal physician and close friend. In Cousins’ famous 1979 book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Hitzig is credited with supporting Cousins’ unorthodox recovery from a severe connective tissue disease/ankylosing spondylitis through high-dose vitamin C and laughter therapy (watching comedy films). Hitzig was portrayed by Eli Wallach in the 1984 TV movie adaptation.

Personal Life and Death

• Married Candis Irene Hall (an early female pilot) in 1934; they had seven children.
• Died August 27, 1983 (aged 78), at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan after a long illness from a stroke. Buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York.

He treated many notable patients, including Emperor Haile Selassie, V.K. Krishna Menon, Pearl Bailey, and others. His legacy combines medical innovation, elite practice, and significant humanitarian contributions in the post-WWII era.