Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1896-05-07

er places. Drs. Fite & BlakemOre, of
Muskogee, were called and attended
Harris, who seems to have been
dissatisfied and brought suit for dam
ages. Dispositions in support of the
case were taken last week in Kansas
City and DR.. B. f. Fortner of this city
was in attendance. As the case has
attracted widespread attention among
the medical profession, The CHIEF
TAIN hunted up DIR. FOrtner and made
enquiries as to the facts of the cOntro-
versy and secured the following state
ment:
One Collin Harris entered suit in the
amount of $4,000 by his attorney,
Judge Shackleford, who is now prac-
ticing law, and who had thus right
to take a fee in the case as matter of
business. Harris is not a bad man but
was under bad influences. You may
put it down as a rule with few eXcep-
tions that in suits for malpractice
there is a quack behind the scenes.
Some disgruntled sort of street walk
ing doctor, who cannot do the surgery
himself and is too mean to allow a
competitor to do it, who is ever posing
and would rather his neighbOrs would
die than for competitor to shine, gets
the ear of some uninformed patient
who has an idea that surgery ought to
be able to remake man, and prompts
him to sue, for no other purpose than
to get his opponent out of the way.
The poor fool that is thus induced to
play the part of the frozen adder that
stings the bosom that warns it back
to life, is often little to blame, but the
knave who advises him. ! do not
mean to say that physicians. like cd
itors and other professional men, ought
not to be held to account for their
WORK. But the law demands of the
surgeon only his best judgment and
due qualification. That Drs. Fite and
Blakemore should be convicted in this
case by fair jury is about as probable
as that Harris medical groom will get
honor out of this transaction. These
gentlemen have spent time and money
lavishly to qualify themselves for the
practice of surgery, are members of
the Indian Territory Medical assOcia-
tion and of Others of equal importance,
which is a guarantee of the esteem of
their professional brethren, also of
their qualifications as medical men.
! That they did their very best for Mr..
Harris and that they are competent,
no sane man doubts. Then why should
we expect anybody else TO have done
expected to have remade this splendid
fifteen thousand dollar gentleman who
smashed his good right arm while coon
hunting in the woods at night?
The complainant was taken before
Drs. Griffeth and Bennis, two of Amer
ica's best surgeons for conformation of
the opinion OF his self-constituted
medical groom, as a basis of further
procedure. Those opinions faded away
like snow in a summer sun. After de-
liberate and searching examination
these surgeons decided that it was due
to the excellent skill of Drs. Fite and
Blakemore that Mr.. Harris is not
among the angels toGay, and that the
doctors had not only done well to save
his life under the circumstances, but
had achieved excellent results surgi-
cally. So you see that his medical ad
wiser is conclusiyely proven to be either
ignorant or vile, probably both, and
that by his own witnesses.
What is the status at present: Why
the medical groom is disgraced, and
Fite & Blakemore have about one
thousand dollars worth of advertising
all at the expense of poor Harris, TO
say nothing OF the fees and other ex-
penses incurred by him. OF course /
do not know who this professional lick
spittle is, but the people of Muskogee
do, and every decently disposed person
in that community will resent this ac-
tiOn. The human heart is keenly sem
sitive to anything bearing the semb-
lance of persecution, which therefore
always reacts upon the prosecutor.
The people Of community take usu-
ally little stock in the ethical scraps
of their doctors further than to wish
that they could act more creditably,
and they are willing that they should
fight it out on that line if it takes all
winter, but when an action like this
one, which contemplates the complete
ruin OF one of their number, and the
pauperizing Of his family is begun, hui
manity revOlts at it, and every man
with a moiety Of manhood in him rises
up to curse the wretch who would de-
spoil the innocent wife and children.
Not Harris, who may be honest, but
the professional scoundrel who planned
for and grOcmed him is the thing that
is hated of all men. He possesses all
the elements of murderer in that he
would make it impossible for one to
practice surgery, which alone saves
numberless lives. One of our greatest
surgeons, who has enriched the world
with his knowledge, and whose book,
one Of the best ever published on sur
gerry, is upon the shelf of nearly all
good physicians, lived in constant
dread of malpractice suits-and was
finally sued and practically pauperized.
Not only so but this exhibition of
mans inhumanity TO man largely con-
tributed to his death. No wonder
then that all decent physicians lOathe
the Shiny toad that plays the part of
professional groOmsman.
Messrs. Hutchings and Judge Stu
art, attorneys for the defense, were
splendidly equipped and eager for the
fray, but when Surgeons Griffeth &
Bennie had announced their decision
Judpe ShacElefnrd stood nm and told