Dr. Satish Seth, 1938-2010: ER doctor came to America with $8 in his pocket

9/11/2010

Dr. Satish Seth, 72, a physician who specialized in emergency medicine and worked at hospitals in Ohio and several other states, at urgent care centers, and on Native American reservations, died Friday at Parkcliffe Alzheimer's Community, where he lived since May.

He was under hospice care. He had Alzheimer's disease and diabetes and was ill much of the summer, his wife, Ann, said.

Dr. Seth of Monclova Township retired in 2005. Later in his career, he worked mostly in such facilities as Oregon Urgent Care or at reservations in the West.

He was board-certified in emergency medicine and for many years worked for the emergency physicians groups to which hospitals subcontract their emergency care.

Assignments took him to hospitals throughout Ohio and in Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

“He was a lovely man and loved to work,” his wife said. “He liked to work with people.

“In emergency medicine, you took care of the patients, treated their needs, and they were discharged. He liked variety, and he liked the fact that people listened to him because they were in an emergency situation.”

Dr. Seth was born Jan. 15, 1938, and grew up in what is now Mumbai, India.

“He grew up very differently from the way he made sure we grew up,” said his daughter, Anita. He was board-certified in family practice and internal medicine, but “he seemed to think that [emergency medicine] was the best return for his work. He was very centrally focused on providing and thought that was the best way to do it.

“He had a very big drive to be the best. That's a good trait to have in emergency medicine,” she said.

He arrived in the United States — with $8 in his pocket, according to the stories he told — with his admission to Howard University lined up, his wife said.

From Howard, he received a bachelor's degree; a master's degree in chemistry; a doctorate in biochemistry, and his medical degree.

He became a citizen in 1968. He was in the Army and served at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and in Baltimore. He later had residencies in California.

He was proud of his son, Vijay, who has Down syndrome and who in 1997 at age 31 became an Eagle Scout. He was proud of his daughter — a lawyer, a mother, and a volunteer.

He liked to exercise and to listen to the music he grew up with in India.

“He was a very quiet individual who tended to mind his own business,” his wife said. “He enjoyed the things that were home to him. He was as happy being at home as being anywhere else except work.”

Surviving are his wife, Ann Seth, whom he married Sept. 6, 1965; son, Vijay; daughter, Anita Seth Toska; sister, Urmilla Mehra; brother, Raj Kumar Seth, and three grandchildren.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Monday in the Coyle Funeral Home, where visitation will begin at 10 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Heartland Hospice; Camp Courageous; the Arc of Lucas County; Lucas County Special Olympics, or Sunshine Children's Home.

Contact Mark Zaborney at:mzaborney@theblade.comor 419-724-6182.