Typically Kind Act Was O.C. Doctor’s Last

In his brief career as a family practitioner, Dr. John Hung Edwards always gave a little extra. He often called patients after hours to check on their condition and would give up his lunch hour to take last-minute appointments, his colleagues say.

It was those unselfish instincts that led to the 29-year-old doctor’s death Tuesday after he stopped to help a young mother and baby stranded in a car that had run out of gas on Santiago Canyon Road. When Edwards attempted to drive to the nearest telephone booth and call for help, his car collided with a flatbed truck, killing him instantly.

The impact threw Edwards’ 1986 Honda Prelude against a steep embankment, flattening the vehicle. Orange County paramedics pulled Edwards from the wreck and tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead minutes later.

“I felt sickened,” said Wendy Plate, the stranded motorist. “I kept praying that he would be all right. If he hadn’t been helping me, none of this would have happened.”

The accident occurred about 7:45 a.m. after Plate, 22, ran out of gas while driving her son to his baby-sitter in Rancho Santa Margarita. Edwards stopped and tried to siphon gas from his tank into hers. When that failed, he attempted to make a U-turn on the winding, two-lane road and was hit.

The driver of the truck was not cited, but an investigation is under way, CHP Officer Linda Burrus said.

Edwards was on the staff of Kaiser Permanente Medical Office in Mission Viejo, where he was remembered Tuesday as an unusually compassionate man.

“He came close to being the ideal doctor,” said Dr. Kenneth E. Bell, medical director of Kaiser Permanente in Orange County. “There are doctors and there are doctors. He was the quintessential Marcus Welby type who really cared for his patients.”

In less than a year, Edwards had become one of the most sought-after family practitioners by patients, said Bell.

Edwards mother, Tran Edwards, said her son “was at the top of his life.” He had just bought a house in Mission Viejo and was engaged to be married in November.

“He was a very good man . . . everybody who met him loved him,” she said. “I don’t know why he was taken from me like this.”

Tran Edwards said she was not surprised that her son died trying to help somebody. “He was always cheerful and loving and helpful and giving. He gave his time to everybody who needed help. That’s just his way.”

Edwards immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1968 at the age of 9. He spoke no English when he arrived but soon learned the language and graduated from high school at the age of 16.

During the next eight years, Edwards completed his bachelor’s and medical degrees at UC Irvine.

Co-workers at the Kaiser Permanente office said they dreaded breaking the news to his devoted group of patients.

“He was such a wonderful, warm and caring person,” said hospital administrator Christie Jahncke. “If he missed (seeing) a patient during the day, he would call at night just to see how they were doing. He went way over and above the call of duty as far as caring for his patients.”

“When I heard the news (of Edwards’ death), I thought, ‘That was John, helping someone else and not thinking about himself,’ ” Jahncke said.

“John was an American success story,” Bell added. “He was a young person, a young doctor with an incredibly bright future. . . . To be snuffed out at a time like this is a large American tragedy.”