Congressional Record
107th Congress (2001-2002)
DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE
OF KENTUCKY
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, June 21, 2001
Mr. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and thank a community leader for his 50 years of dedicated service to medicine, many of those years spent serving and impacting lives in Central Kentucky.
Dr. Charles Sachatello has been a member of the Lexington Community since 1970 and has dutifully served as a surgeon, neighbor and friend. He has recently retired and it is my honor to tell you about his life and accomplishments.
Born in Connecticut, Dr. Sachatello received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and medical degree from Yale Medical School before attending Vanderbilt University to receive his surgical training. While at Vanderbilt, Dr. Sachatello published several papers regarding a new surgical treatment detailing techniques to remove blood clots.
After attending Vanderbilt University, Dr. Sachatello joined the staff of the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, NY. During his tenure, he recognized the Juvenile Polyposis of Infancy syndrome and established a working classification of intestinal polyps.
Dr. Sachatello became a Professor of Surgery at the University of Kentucky, Chandler Medical Center in 1970 and was actively involved in teaching patient care and surgical research until his departure in 1985. During his tenure, he conducted detailed studies of patients with intra-abdominal injuries and helped popularize the technique of diagnostic peritoneal lavage. Additionally, Dr. Sachatello worked with Arrow International Inc. to develop a Diagnostic Peritoneal Lavage Kit, which has been used in tens of thousands of patients and is still widely used today.
In 1985, Dr. Sachatello left the University of Kentucky and entered into private practice. He established the Bluegrass Surgical Group and was instrumental to the group's merger with the United Surgical Associates in 1998, which is one of the largest surgical groups in the nation.
Over the years, Dr. Sachatello has authored over 80 papers and several chapters in surgery textbooks. He also established the Charles and Suzanne Sachatello Endowment Fund at the University of Kentucky to purchase books on trauma. He was also instrumental in establishing the Grove Memorial AOA lectureship endowment.
Today, I rise to salute Dr. Sachatello for his commitment to medicine, to the Lexington Community and to me personally. Throughout his lifetime, he has touched thousands of lives as a teacher, physician, friend and neighbor improving the lives of people throughout Kentucky.
← Go Back to Previous Section Go to Next Section →
Appointment to University of Kentucky Board of Trustees
Charles R. Sachatello MD FACS
Dr. Charles R. Sachatello joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky, Chandler Medical Center, as a General and Vascular Surgeon in 1970. He is a Connecticut native and a Junior Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum Laude three-year graduate of Yale University and Yale Medical School.
Sachatello took his surgical training in General, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt and holds Board Certification in both General and Thoracic Surgery. He holds membership in numerous Surgical Societies, including the Southern Surgical, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He left UK in1985 to establish Blue-Grass Surgical Group in Lexington, KY.
Dr Sachatello developed the Arrow Diagnostic Peritoneal Kit designed to diagnose intra abdominal bleeding prior to the invention of the CAT scan. ** This valuable, but inexpensive kit is still used worldwide today, especially in the remote parts of the third world. He and his family hold a registered Trademark and Patent on the SutureCut® Needle Holder designed to facilitate suturing incisions without the use of a scissors.
These remarks were written by the Staff of the UK Board of Trustees (Rev. 2013)
** Dr. Sachatello recently learned that his lavage technique was used on President Reagan by his surgeons to exclude intra abdominal bleeding prior to opening his left chest to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound to the President’s left lung. 3/30/81
View: Saving President Reagan (1981)
← Go Back to Previous Section Return to Table of Contents →