Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-27
THE TREATMENT OF TIE PRESIDENT.

II the President dies now it will be said
that had he been removed from the White
House he would have lived. Had he been
removed. and thereupon died, it would
have been said that he would have recov-
cred if left in the White House.. In fact
his physicians are in the embarrassment CT
the man in the fable who was trying to adjust
his relations to his son and his ass so as TO
please every body. The doctors are certain
| to be abused in the event of fatal termina-
ton of the case, and no matter what treat.
ment they adopt they will be criticised by
fools and malignants. a very common
form of criticism already adopted is how
ever so silly that it seems to call for ex-
posure. It has been said, as though the
remark embodied some peculiar wisdom,
that the doctors have not treated President
Garfield as they would have treated any.
body else ); that if their patient had not
been the President of the United States
they would have cut the bullet out at once,
for instance. Now this is preposterous,
since if the fact that General Gar
field is President has had any
effect upon his medical attendants it can
only have operated to make them more
careful in their treatment The realiza-
ton that the life in their charge is more
important than ordinary lives certainly
cannot have diminished the patients
| chances. II they have not cut for the
bullet it is because they were convinced
that nothing was to be gained by 50 doing,
but that there might be some danger in it.
They have taken no step without consulta-
ton, and they have had the very best
advisers to be had in the country. There
is most certainly no higher authority in
surgical cases than that of DR.. Hamilton
and DR.. Agnew, while the attendant ply
sicians are all men of broad reputation and
approved skill. 1t is, however, impossible
in such a case to avoid criticism The fact
that all medical treatment is of necessity
empirical opens the door for the most
diverse opinions as to the proper course
to be pursued, and it is always the untried
course which seems TO the ignorant the
most promising; and the more SO because it
cannot be said positively that course
which was never tried could not have proved
successful. We believe, ON a review of all
the circumstances, that the President has
actually been kept alive some three weeks
longer than any common man could have
been under similar circumstances. We
believe that the surgeons have fought
death inch by inch and line by line, with
sagacity and determination infinitely cred
liable to them. We do not think the
President could have lad much better
treatment than he has had, though it must
remain an open question whether it would
not have been better to remove him from
the White House week or so after he was
shot, and before his strength had ebbed
away. Whatever happens, however, the
doctors ought to have fair play. No men
could have devoted themselves more
thoroughly to the case. No men could
have exerted themselves more energeti-
cally. They have invited advices on all
sides, and have never shown corcei5 Of
confidence in their unassisted Judgment.
If therefore the President dies it may be
concluded that his wound was from the
first beyond the reach of science.