New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-04-21
AN ATTACK on SPECIALISTS.
m GORDON SAYS THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER
AND THE OLD FAMILY PHYSICIAN
ARE REING CROWDED OUT.

rR GORDON SAYS THE ffNhhHh
AND THE OLD FAMILY PHYSICIAN
ARE BEING CROWDED OUT
c,oc,,usts in medicine and surgery will be inter-
estea in paper read by DR.. o. A GORDON presiuei'
-, Tho Alumni Association OF ST. Mary's Hospital.
az the fourth annual meeting yesterday ai'erhoo"
in the rooms OF the Kings County Medicai ASsoc'a
ton No 1856 Brdge-st. brooklyn
So too will be interested the odd famiiy phy-
,c,or and the unfortunate under his care for
Dr. Gordon practically said that the specialists
~ tho dav were having too great a swing
Tho nancr Of the doctor. stripped OF all that could
only properly appear in a medical Journal was as
follows
.I presume there L a time in the professional
career of every physician. usually at the beginning
of practice when the question arises whe'her
speciality shall be chosen or the course OF the gen
eral practitioner be followed
eft seems to me that very few can properly quail
ify for a specially until they have had from hve 70
ten years experience in general practice
"That there are notable exceptions no one VIII
deny but their number IL limited; unless practcai
as well as theoretical knowledge OF the whoie held
OF medicine Is obtained the specialist q very apt
to overlook the fact that the patient has other or
gans than those IN which he is especially inter-
ested.
within comparatively few years the field OF the
general practitioner has been very much narrowed
and present indications point to still greater inroads
upon his field OF usefulness
SHOULD he be crowded into such narrow quarters
that he will be unable 20 exist the fault will be
largely his OWL
at requires but moments reflection to convince
one that the number Of good all-round physicians
is rapidly growing smaller and that the tendency Is
toward specialism. ~
''The general practitioner is too dependent upon
specialists at the present time: very large num-
Der OF physicians especially the younger members
OF the professlon) are doing a larger business as
distributors OF than as practitioners OF medi-
cine. They shake the bush. and the specialist
gathers the fruit.
There Is not d member OF this association who
has not repeatedly seen the specialist called upon
TO open simple Assesses. remove wens. and 90
an innumerable number OF operations that the
family physician should blush to decline -
1--WE car also find specialists who VIII call us
good fellows II will turn over our stomach,
Kidney and hernia cases. yet there are very rev
SPECIALISTS who will decline to treat patient no
matter what his ailment may be. IL the money Is
in sight Perhaps the time will come when the
general practitioner will be consulted only as TO
the ACCESSIBILITY Of calling a specialist and who
to call All this but tend to belittle the FAMILY
nhysican in the eyes Of his patients. limit his
ahitv and Impair his usefulness. to say nothing
o. hia loss financially. The physician who has
no confidence In himself cannot expect others to
trust him with their lives ~ -. -
aSter the reading Of other papers by DR.. John c.
wacE,vitt Dr. James T. Gallagher and Dr. l.. r.
reste the following officers were elected: Or.
caorss r. West. president: DR.. L. +. Tieste. vice.
nres,dent: Dr. Charles D. Napier secretary; DR..
F. Pames r Gallagher. treasurer; Drs. j. G. Letter.
W r Cochran and w. A. Sullivan. trustees In
ne evening the doctors had their annual dinner
In the Hotel st. George