The Washington herald., 1913-09-21
HARM CARELESS
SURGEON MAY DO

From the New York American
Hardly a week goes by that some pa
tient who has undergone an operation
does not find that he has been enriched
by a pair OF scissors a lancet, a piece
Of gauze, a finger ring or some similar
foreign body, which. through the neg
ligence Of the surgeon or his assistants,
has been sewn up in the wound.
How it happens that even the best
surgeons are thus frequently exposing
themselves TO the charge of gross care
lessness or even malpractice can be more
easily accounted for than excused.
In up-tO-the-minute hospitals no opera
ton, however simple, is performed by a
surgeon single-handed- Usually the oper-
ating surgeon is assisted by at least two
or three other doctors, three nurses and
an anaethetist beside an orderly who
carries the various articles needed back
and forth. All OF the doctors and nurses
are fully covered from head to foot in
white, sterilized linens. Their hands.
arms, faces and hair are thoroughly dis
infected, and even eyeglasses and finger
rings are carefully freed of germs.
After the incision has been made the
busy assistants and nurses adeptly and
in a flash stitch up each bleeding spot
So quickly Is this accomplished nova
days that even in a tedious operation on
the kidneys or appendix lasting several
hours it is rarely that the patient loses
more than a thimbleful of blood.
Between the skillful moves of the chief
surgeon the others stanch the drops of
blood with pincers, forceps, needles and
sterile Gauze. Everything that reaches
the wound is thoroughly sterilized and
perfectly free of germs.
TQ1rf htYs
fingers and thumbs, all at work at the
same time over a gaping wound and
handling many hundreds of small in
struments, such as lancets, scalpei. for
ceps, scissor. needle-holder, bits of gauze
and silk. is it hardly any wonder that
every now and then one of the instru-
ments or a piece of gauZe is stitched
up in the wound.
According to the doctors, none Of these
foreign bodies" II free of germ life,
can do any harm. Human tissues, they
point out. cannot he injured by steel,
iron, gold. nickel-plated or linen ma
terials Instruments, gauze or even rub
ber. may be allowed to remain in a clear
cut wound for years without harm of
any kind resulting
But despite the utmost care of the
nurses responsible for the sterilizing of
the instruments and other articles to be
used in the operation 1t is quite possible
that germs may still remain or find lodg-
ment after the sterilizing process has
been completed.
Despite-the assurance of the doctors,
therefore, the patients interested are 10th
to admit that foreign bodies thus left
in their wounds can in no way harm
them. 1t is true that the only reason a
splinter. rusty nail, a pin or a needle
that gets into ones throat, foot or finger
causes damage, sometimes death, is be-
cause dirt and microbes that cling TO
them. Although everything animate and
inanimate that gets near the white
marbled operating rooms of a modern
hospital is supposed to be made free of
ultra-microscopic life. 1t is conceivable
that germs may find their way into even
those well-guarded precincts.
The viewpoint of the patient rather
than that of the surgeons is the one
which has been taken by the Courts.