The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-03-01
MONTHS WITHOUT a STOMACH.
The Death OF Mrs. Georgiana Wales last
Monday Meant the Practical Failure
ola Daring Surgical Operation Per-
formed Last May.
Cnoston Transcrintl

attention to the announcement on Mon
caYsof the death OF Airs Georglana Wales.
the wife Of George L. Wales, u well known
resident OF Newton Centre. in her fifty
Of ysar. Yet the announcement meant
toe practical failure of zone Of 1.-THE most
during operations ever pertormed-"i tho
very skirmish line Of surgery, as one of
tae attendant physicians aptly termed sit.
1t was the third operation in TIE history
cf medical surgery Involving tie removal
Q, the ontiEe stomach. and the second in
this country. An account of it was pub
l'ssed last fal although the namo Of .the
ratieut was not made public. The opera
ton was performed by DR.. Mnurice II.
richardson, a leading surgeon of Boston,
R1l attract % widespread interest in the
ue'ical fraternity both in this coun try
nd abroad.
1he operation was performed on May 81
last, and since then Mrs. Wales had lived
7ithout a stomach up TO Feb. 10 last, the
day on which she died. Until few weeks
aga she gave promise Of final and absolute
recovery. she herself, and her immediate
e. nifty, firmly believed that the operation
WAS the primary cause of her death; but
ire physicians who performed the autopsy
f-Gnd that it was in reality due to re-
cur-sn nee in more aggravated form of
o e disease which made the operation i'm.
psratiye-oancer. Whether the patient
OIL have finally sucoumbed without n
cIrre nee of the trouble is a matter open
to question; but it is undou 5tedly flct
at death surely resulted from the cancer
nrd not alone from the operation.
Mrs. Wales, a woman Of moderate stat
IRA ana the mother Of six children, had
up to about two years ago en- joyed excel
lent health. Sic was u woman of q ea5
forou Of character and remarkable Will.
/. ne had suffered considerable during the
az few months of 1898 with stomach
trouble; so she called In Brookline
physician who pronounced her trouble to
be a tumor, and advised consultation
with DR.. Richardson. When 1.-THE latter
physician presented the case TO her as one
Ct extreme severity and frankly told her
that tine operation, which, to his mind,
WAS imperative, might be attended with
serious results, she expressed herself as
wiling to take the chance. The descrip-
ton OF the operation and the reasons for
50 were given in the article by DIR. Rich
ardsou already mentioned as published
last fall. She consulted DIR. Richardson
on May 20 and had then been suffering
from Indigestion for about a year. Three
days after the operation she was able TO
take food by the mouth. She sat up in
bed on June 2S. and on July 3 was able
en-. I'd fiysa N nj 81 n
from the hospital too her shome in New
ton. Up to November she continued to
improve and TO take nourishment through
the mouth. But toward the latter part
OF Novem Der her indoinitable will began
to give way under the terrible strain and
she gradually lost hope. 1t soon became
Impossible to rouse her, and she declined
rapidly. While the physician in charge
was prepared to admit that the unfasora-
Bile symptoms were the result Of the con-
tinued strain, and of the failure to assimi-
late food properly, he .could not account
for the paroxysms of pain, which became
more frequent. He came to the oonclu
sion that the disease AT first noticed was
returning; but AS the patient was of
course utterly unable to stand a second
operation, he was obliged to let 1t run its
course. Mrs. Wales grew worse, mouth
feeding had TO be abandoned, and she
suffered intense pain. Her death came as
~
for the first and only time she referred to
the operation saying: Il hope no other
woman Will be subjected to the pain and
suffering which have been subjected to
l advise them to let the cancer take its
course
The autopsy showed that another cancer
and not tue absence of stomach had
caused death. The connection between
the oesophagus and duodenum was found
TO have fully healed, and the upper part
OF the transverse colon or the duodenuM
have assumed the shape and most of the
fu notions of stomach. hyiuenee nf this
was shown before death.
In discussing the case, the attending
physician said: Although we probably
would not be able to convince any of our
patients family that an operation such
as was performed was success, it will
take considerable proof to arrive at a
different conclusion. There are SO many
possibilities, that hesitate whether to
advise similar action in other cases.
There is this much to be said-the patient
LETT to palliative treatment, though he
avoids the dangers and sutferings of "a
surgical operation, has before him-hrst.
the suffering Incident to the disease; this,
may vary between discomfort aud uuen-
dura ole pain; second hopelessness and
depression TO which death is in many
cases, preferable: third, certain death
On the other hand, If subjected to radi-
cal operation, the patient has before him
first, the dangers and sufferiDgs of a
surgical operation; though the suffering
may be no greater, 1t may even be less
than the suffering incident to the disease,
second, hope ana elevation of spirits in.
stead of mental depression and despair;
third, fair chancs of recovery that may
be permanent, though recurrence may be
the rule.
"A careful consideration in favorable
case leads TO but one conclusion, namely,
that the greatest good will follow reason
able surgical interference. If practically
the whole stomach can De successfully re-
moved in those cases in which the tumor
invades the greater part of 1t, what may
not we expect after extensive dissections
of recent and limited diseasef The chief
arguments against radical measures seem
to be the necessarily great dangers OF the
operation and the useless sness of dellber-
ately mourning theJu. Certainly no
method OF treatment is justiiiable that is
useless. But the operation i'll suitable
cases is by no means useless, as shown by
the lessening OF the suffering and the
prolongation OF life, facts observed by