Meet the Doctor: Dr. Ronica Kluge

"That’s when he started calling her his angel," says Paul’s wife, Regina, speaking for her husband while he weathers a bout of laryngitis.

Kluge is best known in Southwest Florida as an expert in infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. But it’s her blend of diagnostic skills and honest, caring communications that have made her an intricate part of the lives of patients and their families. When Haas had quadruple coronary bypass surgery in 2004, Kluge was quick to recognize the early signs of staph infection. And after Haas had 16 inches of his large bowel removed due to cancer, it was Kluge who determined that an abscess had formed at the junction of the resection.

"She saved his life again, because peritonitis would have set in and he’d have been a goner," Regina says.

However, it’s not some special knack for catching life-threatening symptoms that other doctors miss, Kluge says. It’s more about knowing and understanding her patients and their histories. "I know these folks. I know how they react to these sorts of things," she says. "He was still complaining about not feeling well, and I know he’s not a crybaby."

With a few presses to the abdomen, she found the problem and started treatment.And for Kluge, it’s about helping families as well as patients.

"I was having a very tough time with all of this too," Regina says. "It was terrible watching my husband in pain. I told her I couldn’t just stand by and be helpless. She lets me call her, and she helps me get over a lot of these things. She’s our knight in shining armor."