The Beloved Doctor Macphail of Quiriguá

Dr. Neil Percy Macphail was director of the United Fruit Company’s Hospital Quiriguá in the tropics of Guatemala, Central America for almost 40 years. His was a soft spoken, quiet, non-obtrusive personality, but not lacking a finely-tuned sense of humor and a taste for “malaria preventative—good quality Scotch whisky taken with a little water, never with soda.” He died in 1949 and is buried in the cemetery attached to the hospital that was the center of his life for so long. Despite his extensive experience with tropical diseases, and his fame for treating malaria with intramuscular quinine, he published but three papers, kept no journal and spoke with reluctance at medical meetings and conventions. This book provides a social snapshot of the doctor, his sister Jessie, Myra Ellerby, matron of Hospital Quiriguá, his friends, and also the flow of guests, many distinguished in the medical profession, who knew and visited him at “his” hospital.