Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1907-09-26
MEDICAL FAILURES.
An Authority Says Three-Fourths 81
Graduates Are United TO Practice.

That 5000 out Of the 1000 gradu.
ates turned out by the Medical Col
leges each year are wholly unified 20
practice medicine and are menaces 10
the communities In which they 30.
tie was stated by DIR. Chester Mayer,
Of the State Board of Medical Exam
iners of Kentucky at a meeting OF the
American Medical Associations Com
mittee on Medical Education, held In
Chicago not long ago. DR.. Mayer said
that only % to 2s per cent OF the
graduates are qualified. Fifty-elght
per cent OF the graduates examined In
2s states were refused licenses. With
few exceptions these failures took
second examination in q few weeks
and only so per cent OF them passed. /
This does not mean that do1clen-
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. DIR. w. 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, DIR. NJ. Clayton Thrush.
a professor in the Medlco CalrurgicGl
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 propertieF
Of the drugs they prescribe for thei'
patientsi" DR.. Henry Beats, Jr.. Pres
ident OF the Pennsylvania State Board
Of Medical Examiners, after scrutiniz-
ing the papers of a class of candl-
dates for licensure said: about one
quarter OF the papers show a degree
OF Illiteracy that renders the candi-
dates for llcensure incapable OF I'M
Outstanding medicine"
A great many more physicians and
chemists might be quoted In support
| OF the astounding charge that 5000 In
competents are being dumped onto
an unsuspecting public each year.
What the damage done amounts TO
can never be estimated for these In
competents enjoy the privilege OF d.
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
ia not a grave yard from one end Of
the country TO the other that does moi
contain the buried evidences Of the
mistakes or criminal carelessness oi
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 aponges used to absorb tbs
blood, and In some cases forceps anC
even surgeons scissors have been
left in the wound. How many o
these cases there have been. wher'
the patient died, there is no mean
OF knowing and comparatively few
OF the cases where the discovery &
made In time 10 save life become gen
orally public. Reports from Santa
RUINS for the treatment of the DruI
Habit show that members Of the med
cal profession are more often treate'
In these institutions than member
. Of any other profession. and that
majority OF the patients, excluding tn
physicians themselves, can trac
! their downfall directly to q careles
} physician.
How many criminal operations ar
performed by physicians is also
. matter OF conjecture. Operations Q
, this class are. unfortunately. YER
!, frequent in large cities Some gFadI
. ated and licensed physicians, man
: OF them Of supposed respectfully
make an exclusive practice OF erin
! inai medical and surgical treatmen
] Dr.. Henry q. w. RheinhArt. Coroner
{ physician Of Chicago. estimates n
. number OF criminal operations. ann
) ALLY, In Chicago alone az $1,000. HO
: many resulted fatally are unknown
a. when death results. the real caui
4 is disguised in the death eertineat
I which the physician signss and while
: no one but himself and clerk see
4 Probably not one case OF malpra
= tiee In 1000 ever becomes the subje
a OF a Law suit but In the last year a
= proximately $50 cases wherein Il
I plaintiff has alleged malpractice has
: becn reported in the newspapers. Al
owing to the social prominence Al
: the favored positions Of many ply
. clans nos more than half the ne
: suits stated. probably. result In a
newspaper Publicity. but II woul
probably not be an oxaggeration
= state that the total cases Of malprs
ticr. not Involving criminal operatio
or criminal medical practice. won
amount to 10000 or more than o
\ case to each physician In the count