CUMBERLAND — After 38 years as a board-certified thoracic and cardiovascular physician, Dr. A. Sivan Pillai is retiring from his medical profession that began in Cumberland in 1971.

“I will miss my contacts with my patients and talking with them. I’ve been very close to my patients and treat them very personally,” said the 74-year-old LaVale resident who has performed thousands of surgeries, including some cardiovascular surgeries that took eight to 10 hours to complete.

When his office at 915 Seton Drive closes at the end of this month, Pillai will retire for the second time — the first was in March 2008 when his announcement to retire was overcome by patient demand for Pillai not to end his practice. Pillai continued to work after that at a slightly reduced pace.

“I can still work, mentally and physically, but now I want to take it easy,” said Pillai, who intends to spend more time with wife Janice and their family, including five granddaughters, and children Shawn, a student at Potomac State College; Shanti, a student at Washington and Jefferson College; Ramani, a Cumberland attorney; and Nalini Casey, a pediatrician at WVU Physicians Care at Cheat Lake.

When he began his career, Pillai came to Cumberland with skills to perform open-heart surgeries although the necessary technology was not yet here. He has watched the positive and negative changes that have occurred in the medical profession over the years.

“The golden time of medicine in the ’70s and ’80s is gone — a time when there was more respect for doctors and fewer malpractice cases. When I began my career, medical malpractice premiums cost $450 a year. Now the premium for the same product is $44,000,” he said.

Pillai said cutbacks in Medicare payments and contending with insurance companies and increasing overhead expenses factored in his decision to retire. He said he employed two secretaries whose jobs primarily involved dealing with insurance companies. “Now, there are too many roadblocks,” he said.

While he has concerns about the future of the health care industry, Pillai said health care in Cumberland is comparable with that of health care provided in the major metropolitan areas. “The care patients can get here is as good as any other place. No transplants are done here but the rest of patient care is as good as any other place. The new hospital is an excellent facility and we are very fortunate to have this state-of-the-art hospital in our community.

“In the future, hospitals will employ physicians just as they do nurses. There are already 40 to 50 doctors working directly for the hospital, radiologists, emergency room doctors, anesthesiologists, pathologists and hospitalists. They will work for the hospital and not have all of the overhead and insurance and Medicare things to deal with. It will be a new generation of physicians who will get their paycheck from the hospital. It will be bad for the patients but good for the physicians,” he said.

As for advice for patients and doctors, Pillai urged patients to “keep their appointments and follow the advice of their doctors.” He also said physicians should provide “more personal attention for their patients.”

Pillai said he will have to find some new hobbies once he retires. In his younger days, he was an avid tennis player and skier.

“We may take up ballroom dancing,” said Pillai with his wife at his side.

Pillai is a graduate of Trivandrum Medical College, Kerala, India, with post-graduate study at All India School of Medical Sciences in New Delhi where he also served as house surgeon. He completed his residencies in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at North Carolina Baptist Hospital of Bowman Gray School of Medicine and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.