Patient invites La Cañada urologist to meet the pope
La Cañada resident and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital physician Rene Sotelo’s passion for urology is unquestionable.
Since starting out in the profession in 1980, he’s treated patients around the world and become something of a medical legend both in his home country, Venezuela, and here in the United States.
Sotelo has published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and authored three textbooks. He currently serves on the editorial board of three urological journals, has won 23 awards from scientific and government organizations worldwide and trained nearly 70 post-graduate fellows from 14 countries in robotic and laparoscopic urology procedures.
But despite his impressive resume, it’s his belief in connecting with patients and empowering them to make informed decisions about their own health that seems to be the touchstone of his career.
“There’s kind of a connection we create with patients,” he said, explaining how urologists see and interact with patients all the way through diagnosis, treatment, recovery and beyond. “With that you get to be friends, no?”
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On Nov. 20, Sotelo was invited to the Vatican, where he was granted an audience with Pope Francis. The once-in-a-lifetime meeting was made possible not because of Sotelo’s many accomplishments, but because of a very special friendship he’d made with a patient four years earlier.
Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, then a Venezuelan monsignor in the Catholic Church, was suffering from prostate cancer in 2012 when he sought treatment from Sotelo. After a successful prostatectomy — which involved the removal of the prostate and the lymph nodes surrounding it — Porras was declared cancer free.
“My health is perfect, completely restored,” Porras said through a Spanish translator. “I have deep gratitude for all [Dr. Sotelo] has done for me.”
Since then, doctor and patient have attended several public outreach events in South America, where they have shared the importance of prevention and screening in reducing men’s risk of prostate cancer, and passed out copies of Sotelo’s 2015 book “No le Tenga Miedo al Dedo,” or “Don’t Fear the Finger.”
So when Porras was to be consecrated as a cardinal in a special Vatican ceremony by longtime friend and former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, and was asked if he wanted to invite any special guests for the occasion, he immediately thought of Dr. Sotelo.
“I expressed to the pope my particular wish to be accompanied by Dr. Sotelo on the day of my designation because I owe him my life,” Porras said.
Together, the two men met with the pontiff, and Sotelo presented him with a copy of his book. They had a chuckle over its provocative title (which refers to a digital rectal exam screening) and discussed prostate cancer and risk factors.
While the meeting lasted just 10 or 15 minutes, Sotelo said it was enough for a lifetime of memories.
“It was impressive, really, how he approached the people,” he recalled. “It’s something that you feel, when you see him you feel, wow, this guy really inspires people.”
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
