Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1905-06-08
IMITATION SURGERY
SHAM OPERATIONS ARE OFTEN PER-
FoRMEL ON PATIENTS.

FORMER ON PATIENTS.
Persons suffeing From Various
Forms of HYterin Are Liable to
Insist on SURGICAL Treatment-HOw
the OperationsAre Performed.
You will probably be surprised to
learn, remarked tie house surgeon of
big hospital, that there are many
sane people today Who. believing that
they are threatenedwith some danger
GUS disease. insist onundergoing severe
operations in order tlat their lives may
be saved. OF course we do not really
perform these operations, but / have
assisted at many imaginary ones in or
der to crafty the whm of a patient
suffering from some form of hysteria.
remember recent case of woman
who was absolutely convinced that she
was suffering from an internal tumor.
Curiously enough, she had been oper-
ated on for this complaint some eight
years before, when a large tumor was
removed. Six months ago she received
a fright through one of her children
upsetting lighted lamp, and when
she had somewhat recovered she be-
came convinced that recurrence Of
her trouble had began and that the
only thing to save her life was an i'm
mediate operation.
With the assistance of two of the VS.
iting surgeons determined to perform
the operation in Imagination, and this
is how we did 1t: The patient was CIV
en- just sufficient quantity of anaes-
thetics to reduce her to state Of semi
consciousness-she could hear and feel
vaguely, though she could see nothing
We moved about the room quietly.
spoke in whispers, gave hurried orders
to the nurses, etc. and, in fact, acted
Just as though we were engaged on the
biggest operation of our lives Then
one of the assistants fetched jug of
iced water and, holding it above the
supposed affected part, let the cold
fluid fall at the rate Of about one drop
every five seconds. When the water
touched her body the deluded patient
great agony.
After we had gone OH in this way for
some time the woman was swathed in
bandages and conveyed by ambulance
to her room. On awakening she found
two trained nurses creeping about the
apartment, one Of whom Immediately
held cup Of beef tea to her lips and
asked her to try and swallow little.
After a considerable effort she succeed
ed, confiding to the nurse the feet that
she felt terribly weak and languid-
There she remained for ten days, after
which she was allowed to get up for
time and her friends were permitted to
see her. In three weeks she returned
home perfectly cured of her imaginary
tumor, and to this day she does not
know. Of the hoax which was played
Upon her. * ~ r,,.nrs >,as4,.S Z
Hysteria, of course, is the cause Of
most of these imaginary illnesses, and
when patient has it badly 1t is almost
as difficult to cure as insanity. We
had a young girl here a year ago who
was suffering from most obstinate
attack of hysteria which took a very
curious form. She would never lie
down in her bed, but invariably sat
bolt upright with her back against the
foot rail- constantly turning her head
from side to side like an automaton.
had watched her do this curious action
many times, and one day asked her
why she continued it, to which she re-
piled that there was a string in her
head which pulled it from side to side
and that until it was cut she would
have no rest.
This remark gave me an idea, and I
asked her if she would allow me to ex-
anime her head. She was perfectly
willing, and after an inspection lasting
twenty minutes l gravely announced
that she was quite right and that the
only cure was a slight operation in or
der to sever the string. She clapped
her hands with delight, like child.
and declared that it was what she had
told several doctors, but that they had
all laughed at her. Would l perform
the operation at once? thought it bet
ter, however. to defer doing SO until the
morning after l had consulted" the
visiting surgeons
Having explained the circumstances,
the imaginary operation was agreed
upon, and the following morning the
young woman was led into the surgery,
placed upon the operating table and
anaesthetics administered. Part Of her
luxuriant brown hair was cut off, and
portion of the back Of the head,
about two inches above the nape Of the
neck, was shaved smooth. Then. in Or
der that there should be something to
show for the imaginary operation, the
scalp was lanced until the blood ran,
leaving cut about two and half
inches in length. This was bound but
not strapped, and the patient was con
veyed back to her bed, where she re-
NAMED for forty minutes before re-