My family benefited from her invention

By Shaniyahh Riddick

Patricia E. Bath was born in New York, N.Y., on Nov. 4, 1942. Her father was Rupert Bath, a merchant seaman, and her mother was Gladys Bath, a stay-at-home mom.

Shaniyahh Riddick

Patricia Bath was an ophthalmologist, which is an eye care specialist. They find out what’s wrong with the eyes or the vision and figure out the treatment.

She was also a humanitarian. Humanitarians are people who care about people. They devote their time and resources to improve and save people’s lives. They prevent suffering.

Bath invented the Laserphaco, a device used to remove cataracts. A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. It makes things hard to read and even to see at night.

She also created the method for the surgery.

She was the first Black woman to be apart of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Bath received so many honors and awards throughout her life, too many to list currently. There are so many people that have been diagnosed with cataracts, and her invention was able to help them.

She was married to Benny J Primm until 2015. She had one child who grew up to be Eraka Patty Jene Bath, a forensic psychiatrist.

Bath died on May 30, 2019, from cancer. I chose to write about her because I’ve had several people in my family to have cataracts, and they’ve all had surgery to reclaim their clear vision. She is greatly appreciated and deserves to be honored then and now.

Shaniyahh Riddick attends Wylie High School.