Milford chronicle., 1888-05-18
HOSPITAL HORRORS
STORIES OF SURGICAL RECKLESS
NESS AS TOLD IN A BOOK.

What an Observing IsngIlshman Says Con-
cerning the Terrible Things That Are
Done in the Teaching Hospitals Of Lon
don-HeartIess experimenting.
At second and third hand we may imagine
our author to have gathered the account he
gives US Of the terrible things that are done
in the teaching hospitals. Here are two Of
his illustrations Of the treatment OF mori-
bund patients. A nurse calls house sur
geon;
"'Sister says she thinks he is dying fast,
and arc YOU going to operateF Going to
operated Rather think 1 was. Don't you
know, nurse, this is my first capital opera
tionq Do you think am going to lose the
chancef Then, sir, sister told me to ask you
if had better let tho chaplain know Chap
lain be hangedr he cried. Certainly notl 1t
would only depress the poor devil. No, mol
Plenty Of brandy Keep him upl Cheer
him all you can; tell him it is only trifing,
every day sort Of affair, and he viii be well
in a jifTy. You may send for his WIFE 'Oh,
sir, she has been waiting about the hospital
all day AN right, thenl Now, gentlemen,
to business. You shall see me do something
pretty The bell rang for the operation to
assemble the students, some Of whom said it
was beastly shame to torture poor wretch
who hadn't chance of getting over it. 'Ah,
you won't talk like that when you are house
surgeon H. S. they always termed it, your
self You will be glad TO operate on your
father, If you can't get anybody else. Be
sides, what are hospitals for, if not to qualify
US for our workl If people don't want us to
learn all we can from the.l, why don't they
stay at home and diel The parish doctor
won't disturb their latter moments with op.
erations'"
And again:
"Here is a middle aged woman, evidently
having but a short time to live, yet this
afternoon DR.. Wilson says his chief proposes
to perform upon her a capital operation.
He has not the least hope it can save her life,
but the chance of performing such an opera
ton arises but seldom, and it is but just and
kind to the house surgeon, who wants all the
practical work he can get, to let him assist.
So the woman and her friends are duly
pressed to consent that this-'the only means
of saving her life'-shall forthwith be done.
To this end all the nurses are instructed to
urge her. At last she submits. She will be
carried to the operating theatre, and this
chance of instruction will fall to Dr. Wilson's
hands; for as soon as the chloroform has
effected its work he will take the place of the
chief and do his first strangulated hernia :"
Among the cases of heartless experiment
ing we have the following:
"'Would you like to do a gastrotomy3
You ought to do one or two before you leave;
it's a very pretty operation. l never knew
case survive moro than a week; but there's
nothing like trying, and if you pick out case
that must die any way you are welcome to
use any of my cases that we can get to con-
sent, and with Sister Agnes consent-sister
is capital at getting consent in anything,
aren't you, sister?-it can generally be man
aged.' y 4 wish to investigate, said
one Of his dressers, the presence Of lithic
acid in the blood of rheumatic patients May
l blister one or two Of your patients, Mr..
Grower oh, certainly said the obliging
Psychologist; only you must take precau-
tions to let he patient imagine you are doing
it for his benefit, and be careful the nurses
don't see what you are about-nurses are get
ting cute nowadays With these provisos,
you are free to roam at large, my friend,
over the bodies of any Of my clinics.'n
Almost inconceivable cases Of carelessness
and recklessness are charged against the ap-
orators.
'NlSlonS OF similar eases crowded IN upon
the good Sisters recollections-of eviscer-
ated creatures in which no tumor was dis
covered to remove; Of cases where, on the
post mOrtem table, sponges, and even instru-
ments had been discovered carelessly sewn
up in the patients after operation, and had
caused their deaths One day nn
old pavior smashed his hand The surgeons
at st. Bernard wanted to remove three
fingers. Not before he had been to see Sister
Agnes, he thought. Sister Agnes went in
for conservative surgery, and told him to re-
fuse his consent. How often had she known
a simple method of dressing to save the
digits in such a case. In three months the
man had the complete use Of his hand as be-
fore the accident but that didn't console the
house surgeon, whose fingers had itched to
make a nent little job of it. t."--London Spec
tator Book Review.