SMETHPORT – As often happens, there is a local connection to a
story that gains national or even international headlines.

Such is the case with Dr. Anthony Caputy, the neurosurgeon who
led a team of surgeons who operated on First Lady Laura Bush
Saturday to alleviate pain from pinched nerves in her neck. This
team worked in consultation with Dr. Richard Tubb, White House
physician.

Caputy, 54, chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery
at George Washington University and co-director of the Neurological
Institute, is married to the former Tina Putnam of Crosby and a
1972 graduate of Smethport Area High School. They have three
children.

Tina still has immediate family in this area. Her mother, Janet,
and brother Richard, live in Crosby. Brothers, Joe and John, reside
in Bradford and Olean, N.Y., respectively, while the oldest
brother, David, is in State College. Liz, her only sister, resides
in Greenville, S.C.

Other relatives remain in this area.

Following graduation from Smethport High, Tina studied nursing
at Villa Maria College in Erie and Arnot-Ogden Memorial Hospital in
Elmira, N.Y., according to her brother, John, who was interviewed
for this article. As an R.N., she worked at Olean General Hospital
and at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

“Tina and Anthony were here twice in the last year,” John noted.
“Once was for Tina’s class reunion and they returned at
Christmas.”

Mrs. Bush injured nerves in her neck during a hiking trip
earlier this year and had experienced pain for awhile. This problem
prevented her from accompanying the president to Sydney, Australia,
where he attended the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum because doctors advised overseas travel could aggravate the
injury and lead to complications.

The surgery lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours. The Associated
Press reported Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Bush, as
saying “doctors planned to use a minimally-invasive procedure to
remove pressure from the nerve by enlarging the passageway where
the nerve sits near the spinal column.”

By Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Bush had returned to the White House
and was resting comfortably.

President Bush telephoned his wife on his way home from the
economic forum. During that brief conversation, Mrs. Bush said the
surgery was successful.

Caputy has also operated on Bob Barker, formerly host of the
“Price is Right,” and U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who had a
stroke and just returned to his Senate duties. He also performed
surgery on his mother-in-law, Janet, John said.

“Anthony has repaired compression fractures on our mother’s
spine three times,” he said. “She went into the hospital in extreme
pain, barely able to function, and walked out pain-free.

“That’s like a miracle! She was in so much pain that she
couldn’t lift her arm to feed herself or take a pill. Any physical
activity was excruciating. It was really miraculous how he fused
those vertebrae, and she left the hospital pain-free.”

Caputy received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the
University of Virginia. After completing an internship in general
surgery at the University of North Carolina, he moved to Georgetown
University for a five-year residency in neurological surgery. He
is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Caputy joined the George Washington University faculty as
associate professor in 1994. He became acting-chairman of the
Department of Neurological Surgery in 1999 and was promoted to
department chairman two years later.