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July 7, 2008

HRMC welcomes new hand surgeon

A new orthopaedic doctor, who specializes in hand and upper extremity surgery, will join the Haywood Regional Medical Center team. Dr. Paul J. Cutting, a colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, is expected to arrive Aug. 4.

Cutting currently serves as chief of orthopaedic surgery service and orthopaedic surgery consultant for the Southeast Regional Medical Command at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Ga.

Cutting knew at an early age that he wanted a medical career; however, he also wanted to be an Army officer. He decided if he could get accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he could have both.

He was accepted by West Point on his 18th birthday and also was accepted into the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Md. He was able to work along with the surgical team between his junior and senior years and it was then he discovered his affinity for surgery. Later, he found he preferred orthopedics more than general surgery.

All orthopedic surgeons deal with hand problems on some level. However, as a specialist in hand and upper extremities, Cutting can do microsurgeries and repairs nerves and vessels under the microscope — technical work that general orthopedists wouldn’t normally do.

Cutting received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the U.S. Military in 1983 and his doctor of medicine degree in 1988 from Uniformed Services University. His orthopedic surgery residency was conducted at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Ga.; and his hand surgery fellowship was completed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Prior to his most recent post at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Cutting served as assistant chief in the emergency room at Winn Army Community Hospital in Fort Stewart, Ga., from 1989 to 1990; director of resident education for the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Womack Army Medical Center from 1994-97; chief of hand surgery service and acting fellowship director at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 1998-99.

He was named chief of hand surgery service at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in 1999 and in 2002 was named chief of orthopaedic surgery service in 2002.

He was deployed last year to Baghdad, Iraq as orthopaedic surgeon for the 250th Forward Surgical Team at the 28th Combat Support Hospital.

Cutting served in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1994 with the 274th Forward Surgical Team from Ft. Bragg in support of Operation Restore/Uphold Democracy in Haiti. He deployed in 1997 to Port au Prince, Haiti, also with the 274th, for medical operations with the United Nations Support Group.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served in Iraq. It was an extremely busy period for casualty flow and I was able to contribute to the outstanding medical efforts in theatre,” Cutting said.

Each day there was a long day, he said, typically beginning at dawn and ending at midnight or later. Cutting operated from a building Sadam Hussein had built in the 1950s. Patients included U.S. service members, coalition forces, Iraqi military and police, Iraqi civilians and prisoners.

“We were frequently extremely busy. Amputations were very common because of the use of improvised explosive devices and artillery fire,” Cutting said. “Numbers varied, but I performed as many as a dozen surgeries a day during the time I was there, from May until August.”

Cutting said his decision to relocate from Georgia to Haywood County was based partly on the beauty of the mountains and partly on the desire to move closer to his inlaws, who now reside in Asheville.

“My wife and I have been visiting her parents for 20 years. I received a flyer in the mail from Haywood Regional Medical Center and I became very interested in the hospital. I interviewed at several places, but I have been truly embraced by the people at Haywood Regional. There is a significant need for orthopedic and hand surgery in Haywood County.”

Cutting and his wife, Christine, have a daughter, Megan, who will begin college this fall; and a son, Joseph, who will be a sophomore at Tuscola High. The family has two Labrador retrievers.

Cutting will join Dr. Gerald King and Dr. Chris Catterson at Western Carolina Orthopaedic Specialists. As the newest member of the HRMC orthopaedic team, Cutting will diagnose and treat fractures, dislocations, nerve and tendon repairs, reconstructions and grafts, sports- and work-related injuries and other hand and upper extremities problems.