Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-02-26
Senator Works Talks in the Senate

many high-minded and conscientious
men engaged in the medical profess
sion who are doing much to alleviate
human suffering. They are loyalty
and faithfully devoting their lives to
this great purpose. To such as these
accord great honor. But the diff
ference between us is that have
been convinced that drugs and other
material alleged remedies do not
heal and that there is a remedy that
if rightly applied, will heal all our
diseases. ! have been reluctant to
enter upon this discussion because it
leads to a discussion of religion, be-
cause of the belief on my part and of
thousands of others. that healing is
as much religious right as redemp-
ton from sin, and that the same prin-
ciple that regenerates the sinner, ap-
piled in precisely the same way, heals
the sick. So | come in opposition
to two powerful forces-contrary re-
ligious convictions as sincere as my
own, and the medical profession. The
one holds that all who practise any
other mode of healing except his
own, are takers and quacks-a men
ace TO health and life-and should be
suppressed by law. The other class
denounces as un Christian and unbe-
levers those who believe that the
only true source of healing is divine.
81 have no animosities against
either the doctor or the preacher. So
long as people believe as the major
ity of them now do, they are both
necessary. My purpose is to consid-
er principles and not men, and to
show, if ! can, that the prevailing
beliefs about God and his relation to
sickness, disease and suffering here
on earth are mistaken, and that it is
the duty OF the government to aban-
don Its position of accepting one
school Of doctors as the only relia-
Bile school, and to investigate all
sources Of healing, with the common
good always in view.
The senator excluded sanitation
work from his criticisms and COM
mended the public health service eff
forts in this direction. He said he
did not question its efficiency as a
means of preventing disease.
Medical Men Disagree.
A considerable portion of Senator
Works speech was devoted to show
ling that materia medica Is expert
mental, unreliable and dangerous;
that the consequences OF wrong dag
nosis arc much more serious than
the public knows: that doctors disa-
gree fundamentally among them
selves: and that the public are inno-
cent victims OF medical Ignorance
and incompetence,
He quoted scores OF medical men.
recognized as authorities, to show
their wide variance OF opinion and
their admissions OF the marked limi-
;rta nf q
and surgery in the treatment OF dis
case. :,
There are many well-known dis
cases." he said, that. from the stand
point of the medical doctor, are in
curable. And these are the diseases
that need to be cured. The Others
will get well OF themselves. The
only need of the doctor is to allay
the fear that engcnders disease and
often prevents recovery. Bread pills
Favored with faith OF the patient are
lust as effective and less dangerous
than all the drugs he may administer
Diagnoses of Cases.
Perhaps the worst feature oil the
doctors mistakes is their wrong
diagnosis of cases. The inability to
properly diagnose case is not nee
essarily an evidence OF either incon-
potency or negligence. There are
certain diseases that can be discerned
by the layman, the symptoms are SO
evident. There are others that de-
ceive the most skilful surgeon or
physician.
but many of them are cuipable,
and their diagnoses are the result OF
Enterprise+ ..racleacan, r r
either incompetence or carelessncss
But whatever the cause. they show
the uncertainty OF medical practise
They not only fail to heal but they
kill untold numbers, how many 10
one can tell" The senator quoted
DIR. Richard c. Cabot OF Harvard I'm
iversity as saying that diagnoses are
correct in only so per cent OF his
cases If this is true OF an eminent
physician like DR.. Cabot, it was
pointed out, how much worse would
| it be among the thousands OF physi-
clans OF mediocre abilityF
Figures were quoted to show that
in Bellevue Hospital autopsies show
ed that AIT per cent of the diagnoses
were erroneous and that In the Mas
sachusetts hospitals more than 5u
per cent were wrong.
"As the doctors believe he said,
that each disease Is caused by dif-
ferent germ and can be healed only
by microbe. the disastrous conse--
quences of missing the disease and
| its germ in half the cases and pre-
scribing the wrong microbe in the
form of serum or some other prep
aration may well be imagined.
1t was also pointed out that many
of these cases were of simple dag
nosis, making. the percentage of err
ror, much higher when confined to
the doubtful cases.
Question of Surgery.
Surgery is more scientific than
medicine" said the senator. Some
surgeons have become wonderfully
skilfui. They apparently vie with