Guillermo Gonzalez Gilbey

Early years

Guillermo Gonzalez Gilbey (1926-1987).He suffered a traffic accident in 1958, which left him tetraplegic.

To receive appropriate medical care and rehabilitation, Mr. González Gilbey had to be referred to England. In less than a year, the new technologies developed by Dr. Guttmann enabled him to attain the degree of rehabilitation required to be an enterprising man again, despite his major physical limitations and confinement to a wheelchair. On his return to Barcelona, he proposed setting up a specialized hospital to give his fellow paraplegics and tetraplegics the health care and rehabilitation treatment that he had received abroad.

Contributions

The 27 November, 1965, inaugurated in Barcelona the first hospital Spain dedicated to the treatment and rehabilitation of people affected by spinal cord injury. This first center occupied the old "Hospital of the Magdalena" in the neighborhood of the Sagrera Barcelona, then into disuse and was suitably adapted to the role that had begun.

The new hospital was called Instituto Guttmann in honor of Dr. Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who, given the bleak prognosis of the injured spinal cord, introduced at the end of the Second World War, the groundwork for its innovative treatment and rehabilitation.

External links

* [http://www.guttmann.com.com Institut Guttmann]
* [http://www.guttmann.com/index.aspx?idCurs=&idFormulari=&idDetall=&idioma=en&opcio1=1&opcio2=13&opcio3=131 Guillermo Gonzalez Gilbey - Institut Guttmann] ----This article incorporates material from the Institut Guttmann, who consents publication licensed by the Free Documentation GNU/GFDL