Expert in bone and joint infections

Carl Norden, an expert on bone and joint infections who focused much of his work on developing relationships with his patients, said that it took getting cancer for him to really find the empathy that he needed.

“I am a better doctor and human being as a result of enduring this illness; I just wish there had been an easier way to get to that place,” he wrote in an October piece in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Norden died Aug. 26 in Philadelphia from complications of cancer. He was 82.

Dr. Norden grew up in Manhattan and graduated from Columbia College in 1956 and Harvard Medical School in 1960. That year, when he chose to focus his career on infectious diseases, other doctors told him he’d picked the wrong specialty because, at that time, they expected penicillin to cure all infections, his wife, Joyce Norden said.

“He wanted to be able to solve problems and diagnose things that often weren’t able to be diagnosed,” she said.

He was a pioneer in the study of osteomyelitis, and a textbook he co-authored in 1994, “Infections in Bones and Joints,” continues to be used.

Dr. Norden spent 20 years of his career in Pittsburgh, becoming the chief of the division of infectious diseases at Montefiore Hospital, leaving in 1990 for Philadelphia.

He remained a lifelong Steelers fan, and shared his affinity with his children, who were raised in Squirrel Hill.

He authored or co-authored nearly 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and enjoyed mentoring medical students, his wife said.

Although Dr. Norden was a renowned expert in bone and joint infections, he was always very patient-centered, his wife said.

“He made everybody he talked to feel as though they were very special,” Mrs. Norden said. “He always gave people time.”

In the journal article he wrote in October titled, “I had to get cancer to become a more empathetic doctor,” he described the uncertainty he experienced after his diagnosis and how he felt a lack of control as the patient.

“I am now a patient, and I have learned to rely on the oncology nurses; however, it is still galling that I cannot easily reach the doctor when I am scared or anxious or just want to hear his voice,” he wrote. “If I, as a fellow physician, can’t easily get through the secretaries and nurses whom we, as doctors, have interposed, what happens to most patients who can’t ‘work the system’? They are left with their anxieties.”

During the course of his treatment, Mrs. Norden said, her husband developed an infection in his lungs. He was treated with an antibiotic he helped develop.

“He got a kick out of that,” she said.

Dr. Norden’s son, Daniel, is a rheumatologist, and Daniel Norden’s daughter, Marissa, is starting medical school. She will be the fifth generation of thefamily to become a doctor.

Daniel Norden of Lower Gwynedd, Montgomery County, said his father taught him a strong work ethic, but also a commitment to family.

“He loved his grandchildren unconditionally,” he said. “I think they gave him a reason to go on after retirement.”

Dr. Norden retired in 2004 but continued to teach medical ethics and doctor-patient relations at Drexel and Temple universities.

He sang in a senior glee club, and he and his wife traveled extensively. His favorite trip, Mrs. Norden said, was to the Galapagos Islands.

They also instituted the Double-Digit Trip, where they would take a grandchild on a trip for his or her 10th birthday. Those trips included Boston, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.; Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Emily Galpern said she saw her stepfather become more open-minded and playful in retirement. After he became ill, he began to appreciate meditation and holistic medicine.

“His world got bigger as he got older, not smaller,” she said.

In addition to his wife, Daniel and Emily, Dr. Norden is survived by another son, Samuel Norden of California; stepson, Steve Galpern of Denver, stepdaughter, Pam Galpern of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and seven grandchildren.

Donations may be made to Dr. Kevin Kelly, Oncology Research, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Arrangements were handled by West Laurel Hill Funeral Home Inc.