The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-01-02
oYERcoNIFTpENT SURGEON.

OVERCONIFIDENT SURGEON.
When doctors disagree, an editor,
standing on neutral ground, is dis
posed to make public the two sides Of
case and offer word Of warning.
Certain facts have reached us, in che
way and another, which seem to call
for word of caatlon concerning
hospitals and surgeons.
A young woman undergoing a crit
ical operation in October, was told by
her surgeon that she might resume
teaching after the Thanksgiving re-
cess. 1t devolved upon the family
doctor Of no great professional stand
Z ing. to consider the abnormal @condi-
ton Of the patients nervous system
and fix the danger limit as the LIST Of
January. Another young woman, with
no kindly family physician accepted
the surgeons dismissal and after q re-
s,,ite-of one year returned to the sur
geon,s Enife, because II left too soon"
4 4 vorne fpan returned because the
wound had net knit strongly enough,
and the delica{e membrance had be-
come form. This moreover, when the
ak months between the two operations
had been spent in as nearly lnactlVe
a condition as an otheEwlse Healshy
man could endure. These are coiicrste
coses, all actual and all perhaps du-
plicated within the readers personal
knowledge. There is reason to suspSeC
they are typical Of large number
Are there not indications of danger
Gus reliance upon the power Of surgery
to the neglect of thorough recuperat-
ton under the physicians care?
A review of the yearly reports from
the more prominent hospitals shows a
marked preponderance Of surgical over
I medical cases. Two conditions, at
least, are responsible for this fact
The hospital is absolutely necessary
for surgical attention, but not newt
able for even serious illness. Fur
| themore, unless pneumonia, typhoid
or a maternity case is involved, little
interest hs felt by the hospital in the
endless round Of digestive and nervous
I
diseases which usually constitute the
medical side. Americans must see
quick results, even in science; surgery
is quick, sometimes disastrously so,
while medical treatment is hampered
by obstacles beyond the physicians
control Under these circumstances,
in view of the rapid strides made in
the knowledge and practice Of surgery,
the hospitals have become crowded to
congestion. The result is often a
waiting list and a tendency to push
out the convalescing as soon as they
can safely leave, Because surgeons
are eager for interesting cases and
hospitals are making records in their
year books, by reason of the waiting
| lists of sufferers, there has arisen a
condition in the surgical world akin to
the characteristic rush Of American
business and social life.
We have gathered statistics from a
number of high-class hospitals, all do
ing good work. An average time of 10
days is allotted each patient by one
hospital. The time varies with others,
one reaching a maximum time of only
26 days and u hours, Suffice it to say
the periods are markedly brief.
The layman finds himself asking
whether the hospitals are too few or
surgical operations too many-some of
us incline to the latter opinion. This
is pre-eminently the day of the SUR
geon, as against the physician, but isn't
the former, with his swifter methods
and more brilliant personal reputation
in danger of going too far? We would
urge patients, before they accept the
dictum of their surgeons too literally,
to have the counsel Of good physi-
clan. Indications are not lacking of
jealousy between these two branches
of the profession and disagreement
which may result in the patients un-
doinng.
With reference to the hospitals it is
but just to add that in no branch of
public service have greater strides
been made within recent years than in
their administration, The overhauling
of famous Bellevue was but the begin
ming if reform which has abolished
insufficient and unsanitary conditions
from practically every hospital in the
United States.-Good Housekeeping