Two giants of the Harvard community were hospitalized late last week and both remained in intensive care throughout the day yesterday.
John Kenneth Galbraith, Warburg professor of economics emeritus, is receiving treatment for hip injuries he incurred in a fall last Thursday. Galbraith is listed in fair condition at Mount Auburn Hospital.
Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, lecturer on law and public service professor of jurisprudence at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), is listed in serious condition at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is currently suffering from pneumonia after entering the hospital for surgery last week.
According to J. Alan Galbraith '63, the professor's oldest son, Galbraith tripped in the bedroom of his Cambridge residence last Thursday, resulting in three minor fractures to his hip.
While the hip injury was not very serious, Galbraith's use of a blood-thinning drug to treat another medical problem led to complications: Galbraith developed a hematoma, which required immediate surgery.
According to Galbraith's son, the professor is doing well and, with physical therapy, will return to full mobility within a short period of time.
"We hope he'll return to the Harvard community with full vigor in about a month. The prognosis is very good," J. Alan Galbraith said.
"It was a bad fall, but he is overcoming it. He wouldn't want to have the Harvard community worry about him," added Andrea D. Williams, Galbraith's administrative assistant.
The octogenarian Galbraith has been a professor at Harvard since 1948. He was Ambassador to India during the administration of John F. Kennedy '40, who is a former Crimson editor, and administered the system of wartime price controls during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt '04, who is a former Crimson president.
Galbraith has published widely in the areas of Keynesian and post-Keynesian economics and has been an active and outspoken purveyor of lib- ING Higginbotham entered MGH last week for his third operation since the beginning of the year. On Saturday, Higginbotham was diagnosed with pneumonia and was moved into MGH's intensive care unit. Although Higginbotham is listed in serious condition, his situation has improved since the weekend. "He's a great man. We're all praying for him and hoping for the best," said Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. DuBois professor of the humanities, a close friend and associate of Higginbotham. Higginbotham teaches in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Law School, in addition to the Kennedy School of Government. He has previously held a number of judicial posts and is currently of counsel to the law firm of Pail, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in the New York and Washington offices. Higginbotham was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in September of 1995
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