Editing Kenneth Patchen (section)

=== Health problems ===

In 1937 Patchen suffered a permanent [[Spinal-cord injury|spinal injury]], which was to give him [[chronic pain|pain]], to varying degrees, for the rest of his life and which required multiple surgical procedures. In a letter to a friend from 1960, Patchen explained, "In 1956 a spinal fusion [operation] (second of two operations) gave me relief and mobility (& for the first time I was able to go about giving readings, and so on."<ref name="Frost">Frost, Allen, ed. (2012). ''Selected Correspondence of Kenneth Patchen''. Huron, Ohio: Botton Dog Press.</ref>

By this point, he and his wife had moved from San Francisco to Palo Alto to be closer to the [[Palo Alto Medical Foundation|Palo Alto Clinic]], where both were receiving treatment. Then, in 1959, Patchen noted in the letter quoted above that another surgery at the Presbyterian Medical Center of San Francisco ended in disaster. He wrote, "During [a] surgical procedure for my throat, and while under complete anesthesia, I suffered another slipped disc."<ref name="Frost" /> Though he was heavily sedated during the procedure, Patchen suspected that he had been dropped at some point;<ref name="Smith" /> in any event he was in considerably more pain afterward, and disabled for the rest of his life. In 1963, he sued his surgeon for medical malpractice and lost.<ref name="Smith" />

Around this time, [[Jim Morrison]] paid for the publication of the ''Mt. Alverno Review'', a poetry anthology edited by his friend, [[Michael C. Ford]], to help Patchen with medical expenses.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrIQAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Mt.+Alverno+Review%22+%22jim+morrison%22+%22kenneth+patchen%22|isbn=9780688088293|title=Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison|year=1991|publisher=Morrow}}</ref>