THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607230124
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 192 lines
DR. JAMES BATTEN approached a wary Cassidy Gazaway with a broad smile, his russet brown eyes crinkling in the corners.
``So she's been yanking on her ears?'' he asked mom Wendy Gazaway, listening to the 7-month-old's lungs.
``Yeah, she's been pulling on her right ear and hasn't been sleeping,'' Wendy Gazaway replied. ``She just got over a real bad cold. I think it's an ear infection.''
Batten made Donald Duck noises to Cassidy as he gently laid her back on the table. This would be Cassidy's first ear infection, Gazaway said.
``It also could be teething,'' he said, as Cassidy started to fuss. ``Ears are a toy you can't lose. They yank on their ears because their gums hurt.''
As he looked into Cassidy's ears she started wailing. Loudly.
``It's an ear infection,'' Batten said, whipping out his prescription pad. ``The right ear is very red. She'll need to take one teaspoon of amoxicillin three times a day for 10 days.
``If she's not better after a few days call us.''
It used to be the wail of sirens that got Batten's adrenaline pumping, not the crying of sick children. A former Virginia Beach police officer with the Second Precinct at the Oceanfront, Batten regularly used to break up fights, arrest the drunk and disorderly, nab burglars, send loiterers on their way and write tickets.
But that was another lifetime ago. In 1987, Batten traded his gun and nightstick for a stethoscope and a tongue depressor when he entered Eastern Virginia Medical School. It was a difficult decision. Batten and his wife, Lesley, had been married only a few years and had just bought a house. And, Lesley recalled, they wanted children.
``I was worried about the financial end of it,'' admitted Lesley, a desk officer with the First Precinct at the Municipal Center. ``But it was his dream. Thankfully, a lot of people in the medical field gave us a lot of freebies.''
The couple had two baby girls while Batten attended medical school (``I guess I didn't study enough,'' he joked), and he graduated in 1991. After a residency with Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Batten joined Atlantic Pediatric Specialists in 1994. He also serves on staff at Virginia Beach General Hospital and CHKD. A third baby girl joined the family 13 months ago.
It's not that Batten didn't like being a cop. The Norfolk native comes from a long heritage of police officers: His dad, brother and uncles all wear badges. After Batten earned a biology degree from Virginia Tech in 1981, he decided to ``try it out.'' He went through the police academy in Norfolk and worked in Norfolk for 18 months, then transferred to Virginia Beach for about 4 1/2 years.
Batten was proud to wear the starched blue uniform and protect the public. But being a police officer was never Batten's first career choice.
``I always planned to be a doctor,'' the boyish-looking Batten said in his office. ``You know those green sheets in elementary school, with the bold lines and dotted lines in the middle? In first grade, we had to write what I want to do when I grow up and I wrote `a doctor.'
``My mom still has that one.''
One of the nurses appeared at Batten's office door, breathless.
``She's been calling for the last 30 minutes,'' Kathy Plank said. ``Her child won't stop coughing and has been coughing for 20 minutes. What should she do?''
Batten stopped for a moment.
``Tell her to go get an X-ray,'' he instructed.
Several minutes later, Plank reappeared.
``He has stopped coughing and has now fallen asleep,'' she said. ``What should she do?''
``I still want an X-ray,'' Batten replied. ``That could be a lot of things.
``There were intermittent periods of excitement as a police officer but I have that here, too,'' he said after the nurse left. ``I never know what's going to come through the door. A simple respiratory infection or even a fever can lead you in all different directions.''
Batten has discovered that pediatrics and police work really aren't that different as occupations go. Both are service-oriented, dedicated to helping people and solving problems. Doctors and police officers both have to take sworn oaths. Both professions deal with child abuse, sickness, death and dying.
Batten's police training came in handy at medical school, too. He never passed out or became sick during an operation or autopsy.
``I had seen much worse on the street investigating homicides,'' Batten said with a wry grin. ``The calm serenity of a gross anatomy lab was not as bad.''
Batten has been able to merge both professions by becoming a state medical examiner. When an unexplained death, homicide or traumatic death in Norfolk, Chesapeake or Virginia Beach is involved, Batten gets called in to help piece together the puzzle.
``Being a medical examiner is a good mesh between medicine and police work,'' Batten said. ``I work with the same people and I can see the investigation from both sides now.''
In 1986, Batten helped crack a successful burglary ring and received a Special Commendation Award from the department for clearing more than 100 burglaries. But that kind of work is not typical in the life of a police officer, he said.
``I've been called a few names - none that could be printed in the paper,'' Batten said. ``And sometimes it's very boring. A large portion of the job is paperwork and that's unrewarding.''
The biggest difference between the two professions, he added with a laugh, is the pay.
Batten, 37, is the young guy at Atlantic Pediatric Specialists, the fresh blood that Drs. Turner Gray and Robert Mosby were looking for several years ago. Batten fit the bill: He was young, smart, had the right credentials and an easygoing personality. Working together since 1968, Turner and Gray were searching for someone who could eventually take over the practice on First Colonial Road next to Virginia Beach General.
``Pediatricians don't die, they just drop dead in the parking lot,'' said Gray, 60. Gray also serves as a state medical examiner. ``Seriously, Jim fits in with us real well. You have to get along with your partners, because it's almost like you're married to these individuals.''
Mosby, 61, calls Batten ``our flatfoot pediatrician.''
``We had some very nice recommendations about Jim,'' Mosby said. ``He was trainable, educable and has the added advantage of bringing new ideas to the practice.''
The three doctors work on a rotation basis with patients, meaning that patients are not assigned to one doctor or the other. On this particular day, Batten strode quickly into a room to examine a sad-looking 14-month-old boy and his equally somber 2 1/2-year-old sister. Both had been complaining of sore throats.
Baby Brian Roy cried out sporadically as he sat safely enclosed in grandmother Alice Shore's arms. After declaring that Brian was suffering from a virus, Batten turned his attention to Tiffany Roy.
Placing the stethoscope on her back, Batten listened to her lungs. He tried to crack a joke but the girl just kept staring straight ahead with a blank, downcast expression. Batten sighed.
``If you can't get them to smile, they're sick,'' he said, quietly. ``This could be any infection with the throat.''
After lunch, Batten visited the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Virginia Beach General Hospital. Parents Jefferey and Laura Stockton had chosen Batten to be their newborn son Jacob's pediatrician. Although a healthy 7 pounds, 13 ounces, Jacob had been born with transient neonatal hypoglycemia so his blood sugar level needed to be monitored closely the first two days.
``This is not a huge baby, but typically very large and very small babies will need additional feedings,'' Batten said, picking up the infant. ``We're watching the blood sugar so it doesn't drop.''
The Stocktons didn't know that Batten is a pediatrician when they chose Atlantic Pediatric Specialists. Laura Stockton is a police officer with the Fourth Precinct in Kempsville and knew of Batten when he worked at the Second Precinct.
``This just turned out to be a coincidence,'' said Stockton, who also has a 3-year-old daughter. ``He was a good police officer but he's a good pediatrician, too. He has people skills - that's important.''
The biggest change for Batten in becoming a pediatrician is that he's not as stressed. He enjoys spending time with his wife and three girls, Holly, 7; Hillary, 5; and Haley, 13 months. Batten emphasized that they had a ``Hillary'' before President Clinton took office.
``One more kid and we'll have a 4-H club,'' he joked.
Lesley Batten said her husband is a lot more relaxed now.
``Things were a little tense in medical school, but he's lightened up quite a bit,'' she said. ``Kids really love him - he picked the right field.''
But surely he must miss something about being a police officer. The feeling of power? The unpredictability? The camaraderie of fellow cops?
``Actually, I miss being a cop when someone cuts me off in traffic,'' he said, laughing. ``You get a different amount of respect when you walk around carrying a gun instead of wearing a stethoscope.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
THE FLATFOOT PEDIATRICIAN
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
7-month-old Cassidy Gazaway doesn't appear to be at all intimidated
by Dr. James Batten or his stethoscope.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Little 7-month-old Cassidy Gazaway, held by her mother, Wendy, sheds
a few tears during her examination for an ear infection.
In 1987, James Batten, the Virginia Beach cop at left, traded his
gun and nightstick for a stethoscope and a tongue depressor. Batten,
the pediatrician at right, said he was proud to wear the starched
blue uniform and protect the public. But being a police officer was
never his first career choice. ``I always planned to be a doctor,''
he said.
Dr. James Batten checks 13-month-old Brian Roy, at left, who clings
to his grandmother, Alice Shore. Brian's sister, Tiffany Roy, 2 1/2,
at right, gets her ears checked, while her mother, Katheryn Roy,
offers support. Both Roy children had been complaining of sore
throats. ``If you can't get them to smile, they're sick,'' Batten
said, quietly.
Batten, at right, visits the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at
Virginia Beach General Hospital to examine newborn Jacob Stockton.
Although a healthy 7 pounds, 13 ounces, Jacob had been born with
transient neonatal hypoglycemia so his blood sugar level needed to
be monitored closely the first two days. Parents Jefferey and Laura
Stockton had chosen Batten to be Jacob's pediatrician. Laura, a
police officer with the Fourth Precinct in Kempsville, was surprised
to discover she had known Batten when he worked at the Second
Precinct. by CNB