Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-09-30
MEDICAL PAPERS VIEW
Discussion of Condition of Presi-
dent McKinley's Wound.
THE PHYSICIANS COMMENDED.

Worthy o. isisn.sr rraIse, Not CrItI-
cism, Says The Medical Sews-Their
Work skiIIfuIIy Done-Death From
Complication That Could Not Have
Been Avoided.
The Medical News of New York IN
its current issue prints a review OF
President McKinley's case from a med
ical point of view. The article recites
the circumstances of the shooting and
reprints the official report of the autop-
sy and certain unofficial statements
credited by the press TO the doctors in
attendance. 1t then takes up the sub
ject of the gangrenous condition of the
wound and in this connection says:
1.-The gangrene, extensive as it was,
seems to us not so different from 9TH
ers observed under analogous circum-
stances as to require the assumption of
exceptional causes for it's explanation.
Necrosis of tissue in thinner or thick
er cylinder along the track OF Il bullet
is thought to be the rule, and ordinari-
ly it is easily taken care OF by liquefac-
ton and absorption. And necrosis, even
of a considerable extent, in feeble pa
tients about a sutured wound is GER
tainly not unknown even IL rare and is
explained by interference with the To-
cal circulation, either by tension or by
the spread of coagulatIon within the
blood vessels.
1.-The spread of the process in a pa
Of lou fft-n
not be so very exceptional or surpris-
ing. Was the president such patient?
Apparently he was. According to DIR.
Wasdin, when the incision was reopen
ed toward the end Of the fifth day no
effort was required TO open it through
out it's entire length, although only the
track of the bullet was affected. That
expression would hardly have been used
unless he had intended TO indicate that
the amount Of repair usual after that
lapse of time had not taken place.
Then, the president was 5S years of
age. had led n sedentary. laborious and
anxious life and had complexion and
appearance which for some years had
been commented upon as Indicative of
impaired vitality.
at is evident that the surgeons not
ably Drs. Mann and Mynter, with
whom the first decision lay. acted with
eommendable promptitude and courage
In undertaking the operation and show
ed excellent Judgment in its course and
skill in its execution. They did all that
could properly have beep done and
nothing that should have been left I'M
done. The usual causes of death after
such injury and operation We're escaped
or removed or prevented, and their
patient succumbed to a complication
which is so rare that it could not rea-
sonably have been anticipated and
could not have been averted.
1.-The president died because he could
not carry on the processes Of repair
and because the effort to do so was
more than the vitality of the tissues
involved could support. This, of course.
excluded the possible presence of poison
brought by the bullet or of destructive
action by the pancreatic juices. II Ell
Their of those was a factor, IL needs
only to substitute it in the statement
for the assumed defective vitality OF
the patient. Whatever cause acted, it
was unrecognizable at the operation
and uncomfortable then or subsequent
ly.
There has been some criticism of
the confident assurance OF recovery
made by those in attendance after the
fifth day. To us the progress of the
case up to that time appears fully to
have justified those assurances and the
public anxiety to have required them"
The review of the case closes with
the following reference TO the doctors:
''They did their work skillfully and
judiciously. their behavior was digni-
fed, restrained and worthy OF the best
traditions of the profession, and they
had the misfortune, when success seem
ed to have been secured. of seeing ii
overthrown by Il complication which
could not have been foreseen or avoid
ed. They deserve our admiration and
sympathy, not our criticism"