Beloved doctor retiring after working for 43 years, delivering nearly 6,000 babies

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD/Gray News) - A Texas doctor is hanging up her coat for the final time after delivering thousands of babies in a career spanning four decades.

A 43-year career means lots of Halloween parties, office moves and group photos. But many of Dr. Karen “Jane” Scott’s favorite memories are in a scrapbook, full of photos of babies she’s delivered.

Scott also took note of each time she delivered a baby, adding up to 5,688 deliveries over the years.

She’s delivered babies on weekends, holidays, in snowstorms and even in the dark.

“I delivered a baby at UMC once when all the power went out and they had to deliver the baby in the dark. So, they couldn’t get any power on, it just happened at that time. And that was pretty exciting,” she said.

The most special moments were when the family practitioner was able to care for generations. There were several families in which Scott delivered a mother’s baby, and then years later, her grandchild.

That’s what happened with Liz Hernandez, who worked with Scott for more than 30 years and was also her patient.

Hernandez says people still recognize her from the office and talk about Scott delivering their babies.

“My husband would say, ‘Honey, do you realize Dr. Scott is responsible for half of the population in Lubbock?’ And I’d say, ‘Something like that,’” Hernandez said.

Scott began her career in Denver City, then moved to Lubbock after six years. She took in patients who didn’t have much health coverage, filling a need in the city.

“That just exploded. I was taking care of patients and their families and their grandparents and the whole family. So, we kept expanding in the office to accommodate everyone,” she said.

According to Scott, she was inspired to become a doctor after having polio at 3 years old and spending a lot of time in the hospital.

“I think that helped encourage me to have empathy for patients and maybe understand how they felt from the other side. I think that always helped me in becoming a physician and being able to practice medicine better,” Scott said.

Her patients say they are happy she will now get some rest, but they will miss their favorite doctor.

“It’s a good feeling to know, I hope I’ve left a mark, and I hope I’ve made the community better. That’s all I wanted to do and make people feel better and feel better about their health,” she said.

In her retirement, Scott wants to travel, play golf, and introduce even more new life into the world - in her garden.