Smyrna times., 1888-05-30
WHOLE NO. LIZA.
HOSPITAL HORRORS.
STORIES OF SURGICAL RECKLESS.
NESS AS TOLD IN A BOOK

what an Observing EngIIshman 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 be
gives us of the terrible things that are done
IN the teaching hospitals. Here are two Of
ms illustrations Of the treatment Of nori-
bund patients. \ nurse calls a house s,,r-
geOn:
Sister says she thinks he is diving fast
and are you going 10 operator Going to
operatei Rather think | was. Don't WON
know, nurse, this is my first capital orera-
uonf Do you think l am going TO lose the
chanceF Then, sir, sister told me to ask Won,
II had better let the chaplain know Chan
lam be hangedn he cried Certainly not, II
would only depress the poor devil No. MOI
Plenty Of brandy! Keep him up, Cheer
MIN all you can; tell him it is only a trihine.
every day sort Of affair, and he will be we'll
IN Jlify. You may send for his wife, oh.
SIR, she has been waiting about the hospital
all day All right, then! Now, gentlemen.
70 business. You shall see me do somethino
pretty. The bell rang for the operation to
assemble the students, some Of whom said it
was beastly shame to torture poor wretch
VINO hadn't chance of getting over it, All,
you won't talk like that when YOU are bouse
surgeon III. S. they always termed il, vonr-
self. You will be glad to operate or, vour
Iather' II you can't get anybody else. Be
sides, what are hospitals for, if not t. qualify
us for our work! II people don't want Ms IN
learn all we can from thea, why don't tlev
stay at home and die. The parish doctor
won't disturb their latter moments vyitb on.
erations'"
And again:
Here is a middle aged woman. evidently,
having but short time to live. vet this
afternoon Dr. Wilson says his chief protos.-s
70 perform upon her a capital operation.
de has not the least hope it can save her life
but the chance Of performing such an opera
tlon arises but seldom, and it is but lust and
KIND TO the house surgeon, who wants all the
practlcaI work he can get, 70 let him assist
30 the woman and her friends are duly
pressed to consent that this-'the only means
OF saving her life'-shall forthwith be done
10 this end all the nurses are instructed 70
urge her. At last she submits She will Ia
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.'n
Among the cases Of heartless experiment
ing we have the following:
"'Would you like to do a gastrotomvl
You ought to do one or two before Won leave.
it's very pretty operation. never knew a
case survive more 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, sisterl-it can generally be man
aged i wish to investigate said
one OF his dressers, the presence Of hthic
acid In the blood of rheumatic patients Nav
l blister one or two of your patients Mr..
Grower oh, certainly said the Obliging
physiologist; only you must take precau-
tlons to let he patient imagine you are doing
II Tor 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"
Almost incOnceivable cases Of careIeSSneSs
and recklessneSs are charged against the ap-
orators
"Vlsions of similar cases 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 an
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 neat little job Of it"-LOndon Spec
tatOr Book Review.