The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1907-09-20
MEDICAL FAILURES.
An Authority Says Three.Fourths OF
Graduates Are United to Practice,

mat 0,VVV OuC VI I4-S 7'yyV BTaQu-
ates turned out by the Medical Col.
leges each year are wholly untitled to
practice medicine and are menaces to
the communities in which they set.
tie was stated by Dr.. Chester Mayer,
Of the State Board OF Medical Exam.
liners Of Kentucky at meeting Of the
American Medical Associations Com.
mittee on Medical Education, held in
Chicago not long ago. Or. Mayer said
that only % to Is per cent OF the
graduates are qualified. Fitty-eight
per cent OF the graduates examined in
IS states were refused licenses. With
few exceptions these failures took a
second examination in few weeks
and only 90 per cent OF them passed.
This does not mean that deficien.
cies in their training were corrected
IN those lew weeks, Dr. Mayer said.
1T probably shows that experience
showed them what the test would
probably be and they 'crammed' for
the examination. Dr.. W. /. GOtt
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, Dr.. 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 Beats, 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 degree
of illiteraCy that renders the candi.
dates for licensure incapable of IN.
derstanding 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 unSuspectlng public eacn year.
what the damage done amounts 10
can never be estimated Tor these IN
competents enjoy the privilege OF d.
aSnoSlnS, prescribing or dispensing
drugs regarding the properties OF
Wnlcn they KNOW nothing ana tnen
OF signing death certhcates 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 10 the other that does not
contain the buried evidences OF the
mistakes or criminal carelesSness OF
incompetent physicians.
Durlng the last year there nave
peen perhaps, half dozen known
cases Wnere surgeons, after perform
Ing operations nave seWed up the IN
clslons without first removing the
gauze sponges used to absorb the
blood, and in some cases torceps and
even surgeons scissors have been
left In the wound. How many Oh
these cases there have been, where
the patient died, there is no means
or knowing and comparatively few
of the cases where the discovery is
made in time to save lie become gen.
orally public. Reports from Santa
RUINS for the treatment of the Drug
Habit show that members of the medi-
cal profession are more often treated
In these institutions than members
of any other profession, and that a
majority of the patients. excluding the
physicians themselves, can trace
their downfall directly to a careless
physician.
How many criminal operations are
performed by physicians is also q
matter of conjecture. Operations OF
this class are, unfortunately, very
frequent in large cities. Some gradu.