L.A. Urologist Begins Job as Reagan’s Doctor

WASHINGTON — Dr. Burton Smith, a Los Angeles urologist, began his new job as White House physician Thursday, replacing Dr. Daniel Ruge.

Smith, 68, has long been President Reagan’s physician in Los Angeles. “He knows me, and I know him,” Smith said of the President, adding that Reagan is “in great shape.”

Ruge, a neurosurgeon, is returning to a post with the Veterans Administration, an assistant in the White House doctor’s office said.