Intermountain Press Release

Provo, Utah—After almost two decades of treating patients in Utah Valley Regional Medical Center's Emergency department, James Tatton, MD, retired on April 6.

Dr. Tatton joined the medical staff at Utah Valley Regional in January of 1986. He felt comfortable with the fast-paced nature of emergency medicine and the diagnostic challenges it presented. However, he also enjoyed "small town" medicine. Dr. Tatton was also a family practice physician in Nephi, who started his practice in the old Juab County Hospital and was instrumental in creating what are now Central Valley Medical Center and the Nephi Medical Clinic.

Daughter Robyn, who is the 5th of eight children, remembers how people would stop by their house as she was growing up to get stitches or a cast. It was easy to see her father liked to get to know his patients. Some of the children Robyn watched her father care for have returned recently for him to deliver their own children.

Staff at Utah Valley Regional's ED describe Dr. Tatton as a compassionate and caring physician –– the kind of doctor everyone would want to see when they're sick. They say he treated all of his patients as if they were the most important patient he had and genuinely listened to their problems and concerns.

A former unit secretary in the department remembers she loved working the night shift with Dr. Tatton because he always managed to find ice cream in the physician lounge and shared it with everyone. Good food was always something Dr. Tatton enjoyed cooking and sharing with others. Last year, he prepared a Dutch oven feast for all the ED staff. Robyn thinks her father may pursue his dream of being a chef now that he has a little more free time.

"Dr. Tatton will be missed by everyone in the Emergency department. He was a very stable and calming force in what can be a very hectic environment and he truly cared about his patients and the staff he worked with," says Lisa Bagley, administrative director for Emergency and Trauma Services.