San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-21

been successful. But blood poisoning
suddenly carried him Off
It was a great mistake, the writer of
the article says, for Fitch, who was
touring in his automobile when he was
stricken. to stop in the country town /;
he ought to have withstood the pain
a little longer, so that he could have
been taken on to a city for his opera
ton.
This was not the first attack from
which the eminent American author had
suffered. He had been subject to fire.
ouent attacks; they had covered a num-
Der of wears. While he was in this
country various doctors had advised him
to submit to an operation. But he
had great aversion to the surgeons
knife. Besides, several European adj
visers whom he consulted had told him
that they could cure him eventually
without an operation: it would take time
Reaching the little town in which the
operation was performed, he told his
companions that he could go no far
Their he was in such great pain. Then,
when a Country doctor was called
in, there was nothing for him to do
but operate. Apparently the operation
was skilfully performed. But within
few hours the great playwright was
dead. That operation in that little coun-
try town was great mistake.
Yes, it was a great mistake-but per-
haps not in the sense in which the author
of the article characterizes it as such.
Medical presumption, supported by
world OF practical experience, is on the
side Of the country doctor who performed
the eleventh-hour operation, rather than
on the side OF anyone who makes bold
to ascribe Fitch's death to the lack of
expert care. The mistake was made
long before the little town was reached
before Fitch started on his last trip to
Europe.
1t is not very pleasant subject but
the welfare of man can not always be
promoted through avoidance OF the TN
pleasant. And this particular case may
serve to enlighten some people who labor
under just such delusion as that which
proved fatal to Clyde Fitch, or that
which seems to afflict the writer who
thought that the playwright's death was
due to 'inexpertncss or ignorance on the
paIt of Country doctor" The odds, as
taken from the writer's own account,
are that Fitch's r1alady had reached a
stage at which no human skill might
have been availing; or. at least, .tfat any
further delay would have been fatal of
itself.
Why, then, even insinuate that the
country doctor was at fault, when the
evidence is so strong in support of the
presumption that the operation had al
ready been delayed too long,.
OF course not all country doctors are
competent. But on the average these
practitioners, with their sometimes rough
and always ready ways, are life-savers OF
the first degree. Theyscan he depended
upon in emergencies. They are self
reliant. ingenious, interchangeable, unselfish
and as loyal as the day is long. And
anyone who implies that patient has
been neglected simply by reason OF the
fact that the doctor in attendance was a
country practitioner, rather than a spe-
cialist with a suite of offices in fine
building in some great city, has much
to learn about the medical profession.
By the way, the first operation for ap-
pendicitis ever performed in this part
of the world was the work OF a country
doctor" His operating table was made
of rougf-hewn pine boards thrown to-
gether under mesquite tree, whose,
leaves broke the glare of the SUN that
beat down from the Texas sky. chic pa
tient recovered)