The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-10-24
APPENDICITIS SYMPOSIUM.
Doctors Disagree An an Entertainina'
~ Not Instructive. Manner.

tnue1
ON the treatment Of appendicitis. on the
advisabluty OF cutting open people who
1 have The disease. on tho use ~ opium for
~, ana even ou the pronunciation Of the
/ word the doctors disagreed The young
doctors made fun OF the ola ones and tho
old ones made fun ~ tho young Some or
them pronounced the word as though il
were spelled Appendicitis. and others
| 'AupeudeslFhus"
Papers were read 10y Drs Guy ~ ritz
gerald. Charles y Parker. Charles O..
I Foote. l.. y. Tuckerman ana Joscuh v
I kofron. Dr. Parker told how 20 tell
whether person has appendicitis. saying
that the patients stomach usually had
"hoard-like" feeling when felt Dr.
Fooie said thar some patients got well
anyway. whether anything was done for
them or not. and that some died. no mat
ter how much was done He thought tho
patieuts's chances were better " there
were an operation.
| Dr mckerman said people had apt,en-
/ dicifiF years before the disease was dds
covered" and named appendicitis. and
they got well Of 10 before an the modern
discoveries were dreamed Of He thought
there had been an increase in the disease
since the grippe cpidemics He said he gave
camomile. tartar cmetlc ana opium for Il
I NfAA MS RAtlfNAH HHk wei MihNN4N fN4 TX
cut up. although he realized that y a doc
tor refused 20 operate on case a. wo1l1
usually go 20 some other doctor who
would
! DIT. Kofrou said ~ per cent OF the cases
/ o. appendicitis were in children between
Z and 70 years Old. and that 20 per cent.
o. them were boys.
| Dr. =. r. Cushing told Of the discov-
cries Of French doctor that showed that
/ all a.. .H..
| the cause % the disease o. wrong. ana
that the disease o. caused by germs that
| are present in all healthy insldes. but
which are made virulent and turned into
| dangerous appendicitis bugs when the
appendix gets twisted or stopped up 20
that the bugs Ia it are Isolated.
Or. Quirk thought the statistics as 10
tho proportion OF cases among men and
| women were an wrong because the women
went 90 GynaecoioEists with their appen-
dicitis cases. and these specialists were
not Included IN the count % tho number
81 cases treated
pr. Charles D. Aldrich the president ~
the society. said ne would like TO hear
what some Of the older doctors did before
the appendicitis and the operation for u
| were discovered
Or $. Hart said he had treated tho
disease for years before the name and
operation were invented. that he had new
| er seen a case IN which he thought Il
| necessary that there should be an opera.
| ton, ana that he had never lost o cnse.
| Then 30 settled down into "a fight be-
tween the medicine doctors and the sur
geons Dr. =. "A Sawyer. who hooked
ABOUT as old as Or Hart said he had
| treated lots Of the cases before the new
tangled name and operation were dlacov-
| cred. but that now he was afraid 20 han
die serious case without advising an
| operation. II used TO give castor OH and
| opium. ana al the other things old-ftmo
doctors gave, hut now I think appended
tie Is . surgical disease" he said.
Or. +. J. Morton asked Dr. Parker n II
were possible that the board ike feeling
Of the abdomen might be absent IN "A case
OF appendi,fti Or, Parker replied ANY
thing Is possible IN medicine" Or r =.
saEer said; II do not think IL is right "a
! try 20 scare the young doctors. OF whom
| great many are present. into thinking
that they must turn every case OF appen-
l dicitis over 10 surgeon. Lots OF them
gct well without an operation"
I1r. Fred Hcrrick told OF case OF ap-
pendlcius that had the closest attention
~ number Of prominent physicians, and
then turned out TO be iaundice Or Ro-
land =. Skecl said he thought the eases
tho other doctors had been telling ahou,
having cured IN twenty-four hours with.
ont operations never had been append
ctis. lie said he was surgeon and med.
icine doctor both ana believed In opera
tions Dr Leo Reich told Of a European
doctor who cured appendicitis with moth.
Ing but opium
1T g. unfair Co the surgeon for the doc.
tor 20 wait until the case s. almost dead
and then call surgeon and put the 70.
sponslhility OF the uatieuts life on him. "
said Or O. W. Grille who IS a surgeon
II think that the medical practitioner OF
experience has lust as much right %
judge when an operation should be- per.
formed as a young upstart 81 surgeon
has" said Dr - - Campbell IT have
handled a few cases 81 appendicitis and
operated on Few and perhaps ! hav,
had as many cases % appendicitis as Or
Crilc"
u have operated on $50 cases 81 appon.
dicltis." said Dr Grille quietly. "and had
"A great many others in which ] dld not
operate. All have 10 say Is that ] be.
lieve that the surgeon should DO called
into consultation IN the early stage 81 "a,
case 30 that he may have a voice in do
Gliding whether there should Doe an opera.
zion and when 10 should Doc performed. IN.
stead ~ being given the case when The
patient g. pretty nearly dead. AS some.
times happens"
Or W. d. Porter Of Cincinnati. VIII,
was present ass guest mad some ol
which he poured on The waters that wcr,
becoming quite troubled.
1T seems 60 me" he said. THAT Tor M,
sake Of the patient nnd the profession
the mcdlc0l practitioner and che surgeon
should work together. There is no doubt
that in many cases the surgeon is not cali
I'd untl the patient IS about dead. anc
then the burden o. thrown upon the sur.
geon Of not saving the patient This has
a bad effect on che public mind They all
know about thc neighborhood thnt the pa.
tieut is very iil. They watch the doctor
come day after day and sac that the pa.
tiea grows worse. Then they see the
surgeon come. Perhaps the surgeon has
an assistant with him Then the under
taker comes. In this way people SGT the
idea that an operation IS very much
more dangerous thing than 10 need bc
and when shcy should bc operated upon
they refuse 20 cousent. / should not ID
surprised n Ga time the SURGEONS viii re-.
/ fuse 20 take cases in which tho doctor
I has not cnlied them a. soon as h. should
1 refusing for tho sake 81 their own repu-
tations and for she reputation % their
| profession
one % the young doctors asked. III
the appendix Is sensitive ana painful when