Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1893-02-09
Is THIS A CRAZE?
A Learned and Conscientious
Surgeon
SOUNDS A NOTE or waRSIS'
The Modern opsssnoa Of Lspsf0soEy
l. Msase.ng shs Hsal:h sai Hap
p.ness OF Women

Two L1otfru @ut MY St71s "
laparotomy within year
That i Gfaad Rapids record .or
the past twelve months- Tbs means
that more than six-tensns per cen. OF
the elty's female population ~as matt
lated durng TIE year 1892 and made
incompetent 10 assume the functions
OF maternity"
This statement MAS made Yesterday
by one Of the oitest aud nsos- expert.
encsd surgeons I'D the city--A man that
always knows exactly what ne is talk
ing about
1T may seem surprising 70 you." he
continued. ''but any reI.uts Die surgeon
Ia Grand Rapids. who will tell exactly
what ne knows about the matter, can
verify my statement.
"Lapagoionay has become . craze
here, and doctors perform the opera
ton With the sang froid that they
might Assume IN opening An inconse-
Qaentlal apscess or dressing wounded
nnger. In fact, Know OF = surgeon
That boasts that ne can perform the
operation in ten Misunderstanding she
waits ~ he faceuously puts u.
Has BECOME q Crane.
1.-THE crsze has become friehtful--a
positive menace 10 civilization. The
casrs IN winch the operation 10 neces-
sa-y are few indeed. One of the most
distinguished eynscoioglsts In the
country declared not long ago. that,
IN the course OF . litelime's experience
ne had not known OF more than thirty
cases IN WHICH It wss Imperative. Yet
there are doctors IN Grand Rapids who
have performed that many operations
within sax months. Some Of them have
gone stark mad on the subject, and
iaud it as = cure for all the diseases
that woman IL heir 10.
II know doctors IN this city who
have performed that operation as re-
lief for nervous headache. Think OF
tnati
"Laparotomy, in the sense of oophor-
ectomy, 10 comparatively new opera
ton. It's performances has been gen.
eral during only the past four or i've
years. Surgeons ali over the country
have become afflicted with an appar-
emily uncomfortable desire TO perform
the operation whenever . woman fails
into their clutches. II no legitimate
opportunity presents itself they create
| ore.
a PhiiadsIpEia Butcher.
"There is now . doctor in Pniladel-
phis who does nothing else. He en-
| ploys trained nurse ~ assist him, and
they butcher away at their own sweet
| VIII. lie 10 an enthusiast on the sub
| ject, and makes the nurse present for
every fiftietn or hundredth successful
operation. They keep track of them
as bowler would of the pins he
knocks down. The doctor and the
nurss seem to delight in the operation
as . mathematician would In the DEM
onstratIon OF . geometricai proposition.
They work for the glory OF the thing.
and, As laparotomy 10 not difficult,
though always dangerous. they &C.
complain their chief object in life.
ain Grand Rapids the laparotomists
If l may use the word-are confined
TO half dozen or 90 younger physl-
cans, who imagine that they will make
q name for themselves in surgery by
unsexing women. They are making q
name for themselves very rapidly; but
their reputation "a not one they will be
proud Of when they are older and
know more. They glory IN the opera.
ton as Napoleon did in crossing the
| Alps
Prostituted the Hospitals
"This 10 bad enough in itself. but by
forming = ring they have prosntuted
the hospitals. In every hospItsl there
10 board OF consulting surgeons
which is supposed to pass judgment
upon all operations. But 1t does
| nothing OF the kind. A man on The
stall OF the hospital announces that b,
Will have iapArotomy at 10 o'clock II
the morning. At that hour the patient
- taken TO the operating room. pu
under the influence of anasthetics anc
the operation IL performed. III she re
covers. well and good. If che doesn't
tie another case of visitation of Prov
tence. The attending physician hal
unquestionei power. He may cut anc
slash at his own sweet will. and NOBODY
ANAL question bis authority.
'But the physicians are not the only
ones that are responsible for Thu
terrible condition OF things. womer
themselves are not guiltless. On tn.
contrary they often request the opera
ton"