When Dr. Claire McKay started talking to imaging centers about her desire to meet personally with each patient to let them know whether or not they had breast cancer, she was told it would not be possible because there were just too many patients. McKay, however, refused to listen.
“When I was in residency I decided to specialize in breast radiology after talking with women about their experiences,” says the breast radiologistat Baptist M&S Imaging. “They felt herded like cattle and like their breasts were just an appendage, like an arm or a leg.
“They had anxiety and questions that weren’t answered. I enjoyed working with them and easing their fears. This connection with my patients is important to me, so I am glad that Baptist M&S Imaging allows me the freedom to give this personalized care.”
Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. More than 40,000 women in the country are expected to die from breast cancer this year, although death rates have been decreasing since 1990.
And many women, McKay says, are so anxious about a possible diagnosis of breast cancer that they don’t tell their husbands they are going to the hospital for a biopsy.
Early intervention through mammogram screening is one reason for the drop in death rates. That’s where McKay comes in. She is one of the few board-certified, fellowship-trained breast radiologists in San Antonio.
She reads more than 12,000 new mammograms every year at Baptist M&S Imaging and makes it a point to meet personally with every woman who is waiting to hear whether or not they have cancer.
“In some cases women will have their diagnostic workup and then wait two or three weeks to hear something back,” says McKay. “My mom had to wait two weeks to hear from her doctor that she needed a breast biopsy. I don’t want my patients to have to wait that long. I meet with them at their diagnostic workup to tell them right then and there what I have found and answer all of the questions they may have. It’s just the right thing to do.”
In addition to giving her the freedom to meet one–on–one with each of her patients, McKay says Baptist M&S Imaging has made the necessary investment in technology, giving radiologists the tools they need to make the right diagnosis.
“Baptist M&S Imaging was the first to bring digital mammography to San Antonio and early on they invested in upgraded Breast MRI tools and technology for our patients,” she says.“Our imaging technology is second to none.”
What McKay does is something very few other physicians do here. The shortage of breast radiologists in San Antonio is likely the consequence of two main factors – low reimbursement and a highly litigious environment. These are issues the physician apparently is willing to live with.
“If it wasn’t rewarding, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” says McKay. When I got out of medical school, I had this image of myself on the golf course by 3 o’clock every day. That’s never happened," McKay says with a smile. “But I’ve never missed that for a minute. The hours are long, but I love the ladies.”
McKay received her B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin and earned her D.O. at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth – College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed a fellowship in mammography at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
She has been with Baptist M&S Imaging for more than three years, and prior to that she was director of the Radiology Department at the Brady Green Clinic, University Health System. She served as an assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and is the author of dozens of lectures, presentations and publications.
McKay is married to an exercise physiologist and has two sons, ages 24 and 15, and a daughter, 13. She spends a lot of time with her family at their lake house, where she spent weekends as a child.
To put herself through college, McKay made wedding dresses, formals and did alterations. She still enjoys sewing today as well as cooking with her daughter and attending her children’s sports events. But she says, “I don’t do winter.”
McKay decided to go into medicine against the advice of her father, Dr. Patrick McKay, a well–known and respected physician who practiced general medicine in San Antonio for more than 45 years.
“Growing up, Dad told me I shouldn’t do it, but I wanted to be a doctor like him,” she says. “Once he knew I was serious, one of the most important pieces of advice he gave me was to listen to my patients.”
That advice McKay obviously did decide to heed.
