The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1903-06-04

b4OOOASSs surgery WAfhOut SUM
cient Study.
DR.. L. w. Ely, who was publicly
commended by DR.. Adolf Lorenz fol
his successful application of the Wien
ma surgeons method in treating con
genital dislocation Of the hip, predicts
that within year, despite all the pres
! ent enthusiasm for bloodless surgery,
there will be a reaction, and DR.. Lo
renz will come in for great deal OF
nndeserved abuse.
ut will be no fault of DR.. Lorenz or
his system said Dr. Ely she other
day to a reporter of the New YORK.
Mail and Express at Roosevelt hos
pital, where he has charge CT the or
fhopedic department, 'but 1t will be
due to the failure Of surgeons who will
undertake to cure hip disease without
Fuficient preparation. No cue who
Eaw DR.. IOrenz operate could have
| failed to be impressed by the apparent
ease with which he reduced the dis
location. Il looked so easy THAI it was
deceptive. Many a man, l doubt not,
\ y
| bf hard work and the hundreds of eX-
periments that were required before
DR.. Lorenz was able to work hiu splen.
did cures.
''The treatment looks simple, but il
Is extremely difficult. Perfect tech
hical knowledge Of the structure of the
leg, exact reckoning of the amount OF
pressure the fragile bone Of child
| will stand before it breaks and an
| a1aptability that can be attained only
| by patient study will be required be-
| fore our surgeons can accomplish re
suits. DR.. Lorenz himself is iInprov
ing his method all the time, and it is
Ia many ways different now from that
/ saw when ! studied under him two
years ago
''Well, oIr surgeons, am afraid,
are going to rush eagerly at the first
cases that come to their attention. and
they are likely either to go too far and
break the leg or to go not far eBough
and fail to reduce the dislocation.
Then they will declare that the method
Is failure, and you will hear all sorts
bf discredit heaped upon DR.. Lorenz
There will be reaction from all this
enthusiasm, and after that there viii
be sane and careful study of DR.. I4o-
renz's treatment.
'I know how difficult the operation
Iss, for in that case of which DR.. Lo-
REM spoke at the Cornell clinic 1t took
ns an hour to do what would have
taken him probably three minutes.
Talk of the knife being brutal! The
bloodless operation is even more SO,
even under the master touch OF Lo-
REM, though it does have the merit of
almost eliminating the danger Of fatal
results"
The case to which DIR. LoreDz re
ferred with qualification was that of
Marta Van Buskirk Of Keyport, N. j.
From birth the girl was a cripple,
her right hip being dislocated. Doctor
after doctor was appealed to in vain
FOR relief, but the elder sister of the
child is q trained nurse and would not
be put down. She heard of the Loren2
method and of DR.. Ely having studied
under the eminent Vienna specialist
Marta was brought straightforward
ito the Roosevelt hospital, where in
April. 1901, the dislocation was re
Huced. She was about five years old.
The plaster cast on the child's leg
WAS twice renewed, the third one hay-
Ing been taken off but a few weeks
ago. In the meantime, though, fof-
lowing the instructions given by DR..
lLorenz, the child was taught to run
about and play with the cast on, and
she became SO expert IN locomotion
thus impeded that she could climb
fences and do nearly everything the,
the other children did.
/ Before the crippled leg was treated ii
was two and three-quarter inches short
ier than the left leg. When the cast was
removed, that limb was quarter uf an
inch longer than it's mate This barely
lperceptible difference is now the only
thing by which any dissimilarity be
tween the two legs can be detected
Marta moves about like other children
and is pronounced completely cured |
When DR.. Lorenz examined the child
the other day in DR.. Ashley's office.
where she had been brought for the
purpose of a test he actually took UP
the left leg under the impression thar
it rather than the right had beer the
dislocated one. At the Cornell clinic DR.. |
Lorenz, after describing this cure,
turned to DR.. Ely and said: Don't that |
make you proud you're a doctor?"
!, DR.. Lorenz first announced Ais dis
covery to the public in 1885, though he |
had been working at it long time be
fore that Even up to three years ago
he still employed the bloody method on
some cases. Now he has abandoned il |
entirely, and DR.. Ely is firm in his be |
lief that in time the bloodless treatment |
will entirely displaee the old DR.. Lo |
REM is said to effect cure in about &C
per cent of the cases that are brought |
to him. When the master fails in forty |
cases out Of hundred. it behoovea his |
followers, DR.. Ely says, to be slow and |
Aatient lest harm come Of what will !
otherwise be of great benefit to suffer
ing humanity.