In his early 50s, with a successful cardiology practice and a position as chief of cardiology at St. Luke’s hospital, Paul Bernstein hardly needed a new career or a second job.
But in 2001 he began a six-year program at Marquette University Law School.
Bernstein was inspired by his patients. After 10 years of volunteering at an inner city clinic, he wanted to acquire some non-medical skills to aid in the struggle for equal rights for the poor.
He was disheartened to see his city clinic patients so vulnerable to conditions completely beyond their control and that sent him in search of knowledge and skills that might help rectify some of those injustices.
The clinic, which Bernstein did not want to name, was rocked by allegations of fraud by an administrator. The investigation and change in leadership that followed resulted in losses to the patients such as the closing of the pharmacy and the medical records department.
“The patients of that clinic were harmed because of the actions of one person,” said Bernstein in a recent interview in his office at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center.
During the more than 10 years that he volunteered there, the number of patients enrolled at the clinic grew from some 300 to more than 18,000 and his involvement increased dramatically, with patients spilling over to his office at St. Luke’s.
It was important for the clinic patients to have a sub-specialist go to them, Bernstein said, rather than requiring that they go to St. Luke’s.
“It is a sign of respect for them and their community to go there.
“It was very important for me — it was so enriching. That [inner city] community is so isolated. If more people [from outside] would go there, there wouldn’t be an inner city.”
Inspired by Jewish
education
Bernstein attended law classes in the evenings after a full day of cardiology patients. A father of three children then ranging from 15- to 20-years-old, he studied on weekends, on vacations and during stolen quiet moments.
Initially motivated by social justice, he stuck with it because of his “love of learning.”
And that love of learning is the characteristic that Bernstein identified as the most Jewish aspect of his identity — even more than his passion for social justice. That association between Judaism and education is rooted in his experience as a child and teen at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, where, he said, he studied with a tremendously gifted and inspiring teacher, Morris Perman.
And Bernstein, now a member of Congregation Shalom, realized after he began to study law that “Jewish education is quite legalistic — Judaism is a religion of laws.” It was not an accident, he said, that he was drawn to the study of law, given his background.
Born in New York, Bernstein moved to Milwaukee at age 6. His father was an engineer with General Electric and his mother taught elementary school.
The middle of three sons — one brother is also a medical doctor and the other, a teacher —Bernstein grew up in Shorewood and graduated from Shorewood High School.
He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Chicago. After training in Chicago, he returned to Milwaukee.
Though he said his parents were not involved in social action activities, Bernstein started working in the social justice arena through his affiliation with Habonim Dror, a progressive labor Zionist youth movement.
From age 13 to 18, Bernstein spent summers at Habonim’s Camp Tavor in Three Rivers, Mich., where he met Susan Segal, who became his wife. She is now a pediatrician/neonatologist.
Through Habonim, he volunteered in the inner city while he was a high school student. His work there “was kind of a ‘big brother’ thing,” Bernstein said. The Habonim members built relationships with grade school children at the YMCA on North Avenue. They took them on field trips and tutored them, among other things.
“It was the era of the civil rights movement and my eyes were opened to social injustice by what was happening nationally,” he said.
In law school, Bernstein concentrated on two particular areas: alternative dispute resolution and health law. He used his knowledge of alternative dispute resolution in his capacity as chief of cardiology, he said. His knowledge of health law informs his work generally.
As for the future, Bernstein said, “Plans are not crystallized yet but there may be an opportunity to teach law students and also, possibly, to do pro bono work in legal aid.”
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