Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-11-14
Observation-Disclosures
tLlNHSs OFTEN SIMULATED BY SAIL
, ORS AND SOLDIERS.
An Old Army Surgeon Tells Of the Tricks
Attempted to Mislesd the Physician.
! How Doctors Expose the Frauds Of Their
Shamming Patients.

! How Doctors Expose the fr9oos OF AneH
Shamming Patients.
"If any one thinks that all doctor ha.
to do is to cure diseases, he Is very mucn
mistaken" said an old army surgeon IN
talking to reporter the other day. "One
might think that with all the sickness
and suffering in the world everybody
would be glad to stay well when they mad
the chance, but the fact Is that some OF
the hardest work doctor has to do is to
tell whether his patients are sick at all, or
only willfulIy deceiving him. This is par
ticularly the case in the practice OF army
and naval surgeons, where the incentive
to deception is greatest, though there is
still considerable of it met with in private
practice and in the examining boards OF
THE pension office, where disability is
premium that the applicant would often
pay good price for if it could be obtained
in that way.
I "But tho most common place to meet
with simulated diseases used to be in the
British army and navy in the days OF the
proes ard coHscript gangs, where 1t took
more Of a DOCTORS time to weed out the
sbamming patients than to cure the sick
ones Tho stimulation of disease in the
British army once assumed such proper
itions that it was punished with heavy pen
alites, none of which, however, included
discharge from the service, for that was
Just what the deceivers wanted
1.-THE malingerers, as they were termed,
had regular secret prescriptions for simu-
lating disease, and some of them ran fear
full risks and underwent fortunes in prac
lticing upon themselves with drugs, such
rs hellebore, to effect temporary derange.
iment Of the heart or other organs. The
physicians had to be equally crafty to de
tect the simulations, and so this branch Of
medicine became almost science in it.
SELF and though not now of such impor'
lance has remained an interesting study
ever since.
"a man who Is bent upon making him
self appear i'll and disabled, either to Sc
cure q pension or a discharge from The
service will simulate anything from
chronic rheumatism to intermittent fever,
and it is hard to tell the imitation from
the genuine. There is one case on record
where a man assumed lateral curvature OF
the spine, SO that his arms touched the
ground when he attempted to walk, and
remained in this position for s months,
returning to his normal position as soon
as discharged without apparently any Ill
once knew of q case where a soldier simu
lated epieptic fits till the suggestion oil
using tho actual caute. an him was made
during one of his paroxysms, when he re
covered with surprising rapidity.
''Soldiers have almost as long list OF
diseases which they simulate as have doc
tors of the diseases they cure. A common
ono in the southern countries, such as In
dia and Africa, where there is continual
intense light, is night blindness This
is q real disease that will often tempora
rily disable half Of command and conse-
quently is very commonly feigned to So
cure immunity from duty. One of the sim
ple ways of detecting the feigned diseast
when it refuses to yield to treatment is tt
say that exercise is necessary for tho health
of the patients and have them escorted t.
posts for guard duty by comrade ant
left there for their full term Of duty.
blindness is a very common feigneG
affection, and to make 1t appear real drug:
arc used by the malignerers to dilate the
pupil and otherwise give the eye an unnat
ural appearance. Stramonium, snuff, bel
ladonna and other substances are used, The
effects of which 1t is impossible to tell a
first from real amurosis. Even when con
fined in a hospital ward the men viii
sometimes conceal drugs about the bed
clothes and use them periodically wher
they think they arc not observed.
Watching sometimesdetects the men In
this, and rigorous isolation where no drug
can be obtained follows But had cast
once where man was SO clever at con
cealing belladonna that we had to pu
him in q straight jacket for couple O
days, at tho end Of which time, being un
able to tamper with his eyes, they resumed
their normal condition.
Deafness is also frequently simulated
and is very difficult of detection, som,
sharpers with whom have been thrown
in contact assuming even the uncertain
stupid expression of countenance habitua
to very deaf person. One Of the favorit,
tricks Of the medical profession in detect
ing imposition of this sort is to begin cun
vcrsation with the subject in very ,out
tone and gradually lower tho voice, keep
ing IN rapid fire of question and answer
gh some indifferent SUBJECT where thu
shamner will unsuspectingly continue t.
reply 10 questions after the voice has drop
pod mach below an ordinary tone. One
case / met with defied all effort at detec
ton till we got comrade to tap on the
mans window at night and call him very
softly, when he Immediately responded.
Insanity is one of the commonest meth
DDS of attempted deception, but it is more
difficult of success, rs few sailors or sol
diers are sufficiently good actors to keel
up to their parts without either OVERRIDING
1t or making some false move not at all
characteristic of their supposed form OF
trouble. Melancholia and furious mania
are the forms of insanity most frequently
feigned, and ii has been not uncommon
to have persistently simulated insanity de-
velop finally into the real disease.
lone curious case that l recollect was
in Washington during the war. A soldier
who had been sent to the hospital with a
slight fever recovered his health, but with
his reason apparently hopelessly deranged.
1t was simply mild form Of mania, and
the fellow sat for days at an open window
in the ward, fishing out of the window
with bent pin and piece Of cotton.
Nothing could be done with him, and his
discharge was finally made out and brought
to him. He paid no attention to its read
ing, but when the physician was gone, I
was afterward informed, he hooked the
document to his fishing line, and, throw
ing it out Of the window, drew 1t gravely
Ay, ov,l ~ d. l. a.. -ok ,arlyo