By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on March 26, 2025
An Editorial Opinion
During my 46-year legal career, I learned that two things meant more to Alabama judges than anything else. First, male judges wanted their penises working on command. Second, all judges wanted the hearts working properly.
In the early 1980s, whoever could assist Alabama judges with these two medical concerns had the unique ability to level the judicial playing field inside of their courtrooms for competent black lawyers who often experienced judicial bias from these judges solely because of their race. As explained below, this opportunity zone fell into my lap.
Fixing “Dicks”
Dr. Patrick C. Walsh is a world-renowned urologist, researcher and writer. He is best known for developing "the anatomic approach to radical prostatectomy," which involved nerve-sparing techniques that reduced the likelihood of impotence and urinary incontinence. In plain language, Dr. Walsh developed a technique for prostate cancer surgery that did not leave men's "dicks" impotent and dripping.
Dr. Walsh arrived in Baltimore, Maryland in 1974 to serve as the Director of the Brady Urological Institute at John Hopkins University Medical School. He started performing his innovative prostate surgery in 1982. Today, Dr. Walsh is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Fixing Hearts
Dr. Walsh was a friend and professional ally of my oldest brother, Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr., a John Hopkins heart surgeon who co-developed and implanted the first automatic defibrillator in a human being in 1980. More than 3 million patients have this device implanted in their bodies today.
For several years, Drs. Walsh and Watkins were the only physicians in the world who could performed their innovative surgical techniques on the body parts that men cherish the most – their "dicks" and hearts.
The waitlists to see Dr. Walsh for a radical prostatectomy and Dr. Watkins for an implantable defibrillator were nearly a year long. Men from all over the world and all walks of life wanted the specialized medical services these two trailblazing physicians provided.
As a matter of professional courtesy and because of their close personal friendship, Walsh could usher someone to the front of Dr. Watkins’ line, and Levi could do the same for the line of patients waiting to see Dr. Walsh.
Judicial Demand in Alabama for Specialized Medical Services
Beginning in 1980, people from all over Alabama, including judges, called me in an effort to get a priority spot in the front of the line for my brother’s automatic implantable defibrillator. The calls for medical assistance exploded when Dr. Walsh began performing his pioneering prostate surgical procedure in 1982. For some reason, judges begged to be placed in the front of Walsh's prostate surgery line.
Levi and I were extremely close. He desegrated Vanderbilt University's medical school and I desgregated the University of Alabama's law school. We knew, first hand, how widespread and vicious white racism was in Alabama and other southern states in the 1970s and 80s. What is more, both of us were raised to be bridge builders.
After I entered the legal profession in 1973 and experienced judicial racism on a Richter Scale of 10, I wanted a level playing field for myself and other black lawyers in the courts of Alabama. The only affirmative action I had seen in the legal system came in the form of white judges cheating in their courtrooms for the benefit of my white opposing attorneys. I could count on that cheating like I could count of the sun rising each morning.
By 1980, Levi and I realized we could use cutting-edge medical advancements at Johns Hopkins to level the playing field for competent black lawyers in Alabama. So, we decided to turn the unsolicited requests from ailing Alabama judges into a leveling program for competent black lawyers who were being unfairly railroaded in Alabama courtrooms. We started with the implantable defibrillators in 1980 and expanded the program to include Dr. Walsh's prostate surgery technique in 1982.
Frankly, Levi was stunned that white judges in Alabama were leaning on me to get their “dicks” and hearts fixed at Johns Hopkins. He did not think they were worthy of jumping the line. Outside of our de facto courtroom leveling program, they were not.
So, from time to time, Levi and I used priority access to the pioneering advancements in cardiovascular and urological treatment procedures at John Hopkins Medical Center to level the playing field for the competent black lawyers who suffered unimaginable racism and abuse in Alabama’s white male dominated courtrooms in the 1980s. Once the judicial playing field was level, these lawyers were able to showcase their legal skills and win the cases they deserved to win.