Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1907-09-19
MEDICAL FAILURES.
An Authority Says ThreeFourths OF
Graduates Are United 10 Practice.

An Authority Says Three-Fourths Of
Graduates Are United 10 Practice.
That 5000 out OF TIE 1000 gradu.
ates turned out by the Medical Col
leges each year are wholly untitled 20
practice medicine and are menaces 10
the communities in which they set
tie vas stated by Or Chester Mayer.
OF the State Board OF Medical Exam
liners OF Kentucky at a meeting Of the
American Medical Associations Com
mitteo on .ledical Education. held In
Chicago not long ago. Or. Mayer said
that only p TO Is per cent OF the
graduates are qualified Fifty-eight
per cent Of the graduates examined In
- states were refused licenses. With
few exceptions these failures took
second examination in a few weeks
and only 80 per cent OF them passed.
This does not mean that defoien-
cies in their training were corrected
in those few weeks" DR. Mayer said
1t probably shows that experience
showed them what the test would
probably be and they 'crammed' for
the examination. DR. ". T. Colt.
Secretary Of the Indiana Board said.
The majority OF our schools now
teach their students how to pass ex-
aminations. not how TO be good ply
sicians'
At the session Of the American
Medical Association held in Atlantic
City in June. Or. VI. Clayton Thrush.
a professor IN the Medico Chirurgical
College in Philadelphia said: Many
doctors turned out of the Medical
Schools are so ignorant in matters
pertaining TO pharmacy that they
know nothing about the properties
Of the drugs they prescribe for their
PATIENTS" DR.. Henry Keats. Jr., Pres
ident OF the Pennsylvania State Board
OF Medical Examiners. after scrutiniz-
ing the papers Of a class OF candi-
dates for licensure said; About one
quarter OF the papers show a degree
Of illiteracy that renders the candi-
dates for licensure incapable OF IN
Outstanding medicine"
\ great many more physicians and
chemists might be quoted in support
Of the astounding charge that . 1000 in
competents are being dumped onto
an unsuspectiug public each year.
What the damage done amounts to
can never be estimated tor these in
competents enjoy the privilege OF di-
agnosing. prescribing or dispensing
drugs regarding the properties OF
which they know nothing and then
of signing death certificates that are
not passed upon by anyone unless the
coroner is called in. Probably there
is not a grave yard from one end OF
the country to the other that does not
contain the buried evidences OF the
mistakes or criminal carelessness of
incompetent physicians.
During the last year there have
been perhaps. half a dozen known
cases where surgeons. after perform
ing operations have sewed up the in
cisions without first removing the
gauZe sponges used to absorb the
blood. and in some cases foTceps and
even surgeons scissors have been
left in the wound How many OF
these cases there have been, where
the patient died. there is no mean:
OF knowing and comparatively few
OF the cases where the discovery /.
made in time TO save life become gen
orally public. Reports from Santa
RUINS for the treatment Of the Dru.
Habit show that members Of the medi
r,Fr 10
in these institutions than members
Of any other profession. and that ;
majority Of the patients. excluding th'
physicians themselves. can trac,
their downfall directly To careless,
physician
How many criminal operations arr
performed by physicians IS also
matter OF conjecture Operations o
this class are. unfortunately, very
frequent IN large cities. Some gradu
ated and licensed physicians. man,
Of them Of supposed respectability
make an exclusive practice OF Grim
inal medical and surgical treatment
DR. Henry G. w Rheinhart, Coroner
physician Of Chicago, estimates tn
ALLY. in Chicago alone at IS, 600. Hov
many resulted fatally are unknown
as when death results, the real caus
is disguised in the death certificate
which the physician signs. and whicl
no one but himself and a clerk sees
Probably not one case OF malpraC
tice in 1000 ever becomes the subjec
OF law suit but in the last year an
proximately $50 cases wherein tn
plaintiff has alleged malpractice hav
been reported In the newspapers, an,
owing to the social prominence an
the favored positions of many phys
clans not more than half the ney
suits stated, probably, result in an
newspaper publicity, but II woulC
probably not be an exaggeration {
state that the total cases of malpraC
tice, not involving criminal operation
or criminal medical psactice, wou
amount to 100000 or more than on
case to each physician in the country
This estimate is, of course, more o
less conjecture. Untimely deaths an.
permanent disabilities are frequent
and occur within the knowledge OF a
most every one. when life could hav
been saved. or health restored ha
the physician been skillful, carefu
and competent
He Set a Date.
merchant in Wisconsin tow
who had a Swedish clerk sent him MI