Daily Republican., 1881-08-19
A DOCTORS OPINION.
A Professional 0tasement Of the
Presidents Treatment.

MESsRS. EDIToRs:-The sad intelli-
gence of the Presidents relapse has
called forth many comments and criti
cisms In regard to the treatment of the
President by the physicians IN charge
of the case, and see in this mornings s
issue of the Morning News, an editorial
opinion of the case and n defence of the
doctors in charge from the censure they
are receiving from physicians and the
public press.
He takes the position that it is absurd
to give surgical advice without seeing
the patient; on this point he is very
grea ly mistaken; it is daily occur
renee for physicians and surgeons to
give advice and treatment to patients
at a distance without ever having seen
them; almost every physician can attest
the truth Of this statement; thousands
of invalids all over the country are
! treated by letter by physicians and
surgeons they never saw, and in very
many instances successfully.
Any physician or surgeon in capable
of giving an opinion, and very accu-
rate one too, as toSwhether the President
has been properly treated, for tue sim
pile reason hat the injury has been so
minutely described and explained and
his case is quite it not altogether as
well understood as though they were
there in person.
The injury was simply pistol shot
wound; the bali entering between two
of the lower ribs and beyond that the
physicians in charge know but little if
anything as to the location of the ball
A iteI the President was shot and while
at the Baltimore depota little ammonia
and water were given him, and after
his removal to the White House the
wound was examined by nearly II
dozen physicians merely looking at it;
no probng for the ball was then made
or subsequently made.
Now what had the surgeons to do,
why simply todr ss ap',toI shot wound
viii ch any experienced nurse could
have done as we'll perhaps rs they;
the iirst few nights he suffered severe
pains or cramps i'll his limbs and they
administered hyperdcmic injections Of
morphia to alay the pains, which
doubtless was correct, but after all
pains had ceased or nearly so they con
tinEed their injections OF morphia and
administered Quinla internally when
neither was called for, or should have
been given; especially the Morphia, as
it is an irritant to the stomach.
But day after day half dozen or
more doctors gathered at the Presidents $
house to dress u small wound or sore
aud to issue their famous bulletins.
After q few weeks an aDSceSs tO.ineu IN
the wound or an yculnuiatlon OF pLS,
which required lancing, which any
good Philadelphia physician coIld have
done.
Now, after period of more than six
weeks has elapsed, the sad announce
ment is made that the Presidents = stoul-
ach has gwen out; now tee question
naturally arises, what has caused this
change in tne Presidents condition? l
answer, the unnecessary lrrltants that
have gone into his stomach, unless the
bail has something TO do with II, which
the physicians in charge assure us Is
not the case.
will venture an opinion that had
the President not been the President,
but James A. Garfield, or a poor man
lhab couiu NOV h'.'o Pi"~ 49,
dance Of more than one pAyslclah ne
would have been well long ago. The
Presidents treatment has been simple
plain one so far as the treatment was
concerned; for the first few weeks there
was nothing to do but TO dress little
wound about the size of a ten cent
piece, then when the abscess formed to
put in lance and let out the accumu-
lation OF pus; then dress the wound
again and let the President get well.
The whole thing LOOKS like a shame
ful farce, and should President Garfield
die, think the universal verdict viii
be, especially among medical men, that
the President was doctored to death, or
killed by the doctors.
j. Il. TANTUM.