Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-09-20
THE PRESIDENTS CASE.
Medical News Reviews L from The Proles-
siona Point Of View
Death Came because Patient Could
Not Garry on the Process
OF Repair.

New York, Sept. 19,-The Medical
News, in its issue of Sept. q, will print
a review Of President McKinley's case
from medical point Of view. The ar
ticle recites the circumstances Of the
shooting and reprints the official re-
port of the autopsy and certain unolh-
cial statements credited by the press
to the doctors in attendance. 1t then
takes up the subject Of the gangrenous
condition of the wound, and in this
connection says:
"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 its explanation
Necrosis Of tissue in a thinner or
thicker cylinder along the track OF a
bullet Is thought to be the rule, and
ordinarily II is easily taken care OF by
liquidation and absorption. And ne
crosis, even of considerable extent
in feeble patients about sutured
wound, is certainly not unknown, even
II rare, and Is explained by Interior
ence with the local circulation either
by tension or by the spread of coagula-
ton within the blood vessels.
THE spread Of the process in q pa
tent of low reparatiye power would
not be so very exceptional OF surpris-
ing, Was the President such patient
Apparently he was. According TO Dr..
Wasdin, when the incision was re-
opened, towards the end Of the fifth
day. no effort was required to open
II throughout its entire length. al
though only the track of the bullet was
affected. That expression would hard
ly have been used unless he had in
tended to indicate that the amount OF
repair usual after that lapse Of time
had not taken place. Then, the Presl-
dent was IS years Of age, had led Sc
dentary, laborious and anxious life, and
had complexion and appearance
which for some years had been COM
mented upon as indicative OF impaired
vitality.
1T Is evident that the surgeons, not
ably Drs Mann and Mynter, with
whom the first decision lay. acted with
commendable promptitude and courage
in undertaking the operation and
showed excellent judgment In It's
course and skill In execution. They did
all that could properly have been done
and nothing that should have been
done was left undone. The usual
causes Of death after such injury and
operation were escaped or removed or
prevented, and their patient succumbed
to complication which is so rare THAI
1t could not reasonably have been an
ticipated and could not have been
averted.
''rhe 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 pol
son brought by the bullet, or OF de-
structive action by the pancreatic
Juices. II either of those was factor.
il needs only 10 substitute IL In the
statement for the assumed defective
vitality Of the patient Whatever cause
acted It was unrecognzable at the
operation and uncomfortable then or
subsequently,.
"There has been some criticism OF
the confident assurances 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 10 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-
fled, restrained and worthy of the best
traditions Of the profession. and they
mad the misfortune, when success
seemed TO nave been secured, Of see
ing II overthrow by q complication
which could not have been foreseen