The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-18
Doctors Who Attended President
Mckinley Present Full Record
of the Case With Account Of
Autopsy
SOLID FOODS DID
NOT CAUSE INJURY
The Utmost Harmony Prevailed
Among Physicians From First
to Last and All Agree That
Everything Possible Was Done
to Save Presidents Life

Everything Possible Was Done
to Save Presidents Life
New York, Oct, 1.-THE New York
Medical Journal for Saturday, Oct 10,
Twill contain the full official report of
the surgeons who attended the late
President, William Mckinley, in Buff
falo. The report contains upwards of
5000 words, and constitutes the Off
cial record of the case. The report is
signed by Drs. p M. Rixey Matthew
d. Mann, Herman Mynter, Roswell
Park Eugene Wasdin, Charles Nc
Burney and Charles G. Stockton, as
members of the medical staff attending
the late President. The report of the
autopsy is signed by Harvey r.
Gaylord, pathologist to the New York
Estate pathological laboratory, while
the report on the meteorological exam
iination bears the signature of DR..
Hermann G. Matzinger, bacteriologists
to the New York state pathological
laboratory.
The important feature of the report
in the New York Medical Journal is
the emphasis with which DR.. Matthew
D. Mann, speaking for his colleagues,
tdecfares that there never under like
circumstances was a more harmonious
and better agreed band of consultants,'
thus setting aside rumors of disagree
ment among the attending physicians
and surgeons.
The report describes in detail the
events Immediately following the
shooting, which are already familiar
to the public. Then follows de-
scription of the operations in all It's
technical minutiae. The utmost care
TIE Of fIaa
abdominal cavity and of the wound,
by the most approved modern methods
of surgical cleanliness. The wound in
| the stomach were sutured with silk,
using double rows of stitches so ar
ranged that the greatest possible Sc
curity was given to the sutured spots.
The application of these stitches was
accompanied by great difficulties, es-
lpecially the suturing of the opening in
the posterior wall of the stomach.
The chief trouble was the depth of
the abdominal cavity, the lack of in
struments to draw the edges of the
wound apart during the sewing and
the lack of good light. In his COM
ments on the report of the operation,
DR., Mann particularly emphasizes the
disadvantages under which he labored
when suturing the wounds in the
stomach, with the failing light of a
September afternoon. Later on in the
operation a movable electric light was
used with advantage. Speaking of the
search for the bullet during the opera
ton, the report says;
THE operation on the stomach now
| being finished, Dr. Mann introduced
his arm so as to examine carefully by
touch all the deep structures behind
the stomach. No trace of the bullet
or of the further track of the bullet
could be found AS the introduction
of the hand in this way seemed to have
a bad influence on the President s
pulse prolonged search for further in
jury done by the bullet, or for the bull
let itself, was desisted from.
Further search might have caused
the death of the patient upon the OPP
Grating table At the close of the oper-
alton the surgeons present unanimous
ly assured DIR. Mann. in answer to his
questions. that they were perfectly
satisfied that everything that was pos
sible had been done and that they had
no further suggestions to make. 1t was
also decided not to introduce any gauze
or tubes into the abdomen for drainage
| and this was not necessary, but the
| wound was not sewed up so tightly
that no drainage could take place ma
| turally.
The report then continues in the his
| tory of the case after the operation .
The progress of = illness is given day
by day, and the bulletins as given out
| by the attending physicians are in
corporated in the report.
On the fifth day-Sept. 10-took place
the much discussed removal of stitches
from the. wound in the abdominal wall.
The report says:
In the evening the dressings were
examined, and, as there was consider
| able staining from the discharges, it
/ was thought best to remove four
stitches and to separate the edges of
the wound. A little slough was OBJ
served near the bullet track, covering
space nearly an inch wide, the
thickness of the flaps. The supuration
seemed to extend down to the muscle
! The remainder of the wound looked |
| hea Thy and it was thought that the |
| infection was due to the bullet or to
piece of clothing which had been |
carried into the wound at the time of |
the shooting. The wound was then |
dressed, and on the following day the |
| patients condition was very much |
| improved. The findings at the autopsy, |
as well as the developments of the |
case during the last days, exclude all |
possibility of absolute injury to the |
stomach by the premature giving of
solid food, as was alleged at the time |
when unfavorable symptoms came on I
On the fifth day the President slipped !
hot water. on the sixth he had beef |
juice. the first food taken by mouth \
since the operation. In the meantime /
nutritive enemas were continued but |
were not well retained. At $50 in the
morning of the seventh day he was
allowed chicken broth, a. very small /
piece of toast and small cup of cof-
fee. He did not care for the toast and /
ate scarcely any of it. The wound |
had in the meanwhile been doing very
well, and had been dressed daily after
the removal of the stitches and the /
sloughing tissue.
The President seemed at his best, and
a favorable result was now confidently /
predicted. There was no sign of blood /
poisoning or of Inflammation of the
lperitoneum. The only alarming symp-
tom was his rapid pulse, and as it had /
been of fairly good quality right along,
the surgeons did not attribute very
great Importance to this sign. On the
seventh day, towards noon. the pulse
began to grow weaker, and grew rap
idly worse. Stimulants were given and
the food was discontinued, while cas-
tor oil and enema of oxgall were given
= no..