Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08

lions for needless surgical operations.
Medical Cost Problem.
A large part of the solution Of the
medical cost problem, he insists, lies IN
the further development OF constitl-
tionaI or synthetic medicine-the treat
ment of the patient in the light OF an
intimate knowledge Of the biology OF
the individual, covering physical, mem
tai and moral makeup. A physician
with this knowledge often can correct
diagnosis where corps OF specialists
with their precision instruments nave
utterly failed. 49,
Once reduced to q basis Of constitu-
tional medicine administered by the
general practitioner. he believes that
the economic adjustment would take
care of itself, since it would be removed
from the realm of business account
ancy to that of personal relationship be-
tween q man pledged to high stand
ard of self-Sacrifice and persons with
whose economic status he Is acquainted
The success of this relationship, he
admits, would depend largely upon the
character of the physician, ana there
are bound to be a certain number OF
dishonest and selfish men In any pro-
fession. But the whose history OF med
icine, he points out. absolves the pro.
INSSlOn AS n WhOtG vAaS o''DAs -
self interest.
The afctor that has preserved the
| unseIfish ideals of medical service has
been the confidential relationship OF
physician and patient. Disturb THIS
relationship hy universal specializatio ton
or arbitrary organization and selfisn
interests will gain the ascendency.
Growth Just Begun in u. 8.
This practice of constitutional medi-
cine. he says. is now undergoing great
development in Germany, but its growth
in this country, with corresponding
decline in the importance of the spe-
cialist, is just beginning. 1t de-
voted to. keeping the human organism
in healthy adjustment on the three
planes upon which 1t functions. namely,
the physical, mental and social planes.
It looks upon any ailment as a malad-
justment peculiar to the individual,
rather than as q disease entity. and
upon medicine as an art as well rs q
science.
This, he points out, makes full Use
of the dynamic relationship between
the physician and the patient, which
is apt to be lost sight of in an atmos-
phere Of highly organized specialize
| ton. 1t Is this dynamic relationship,
difficult to define. which Is responsible
not only for some OF the best work
of the family doctor, but also for the
much advertised miracles" OF quacks
who. not infrequently accomplish cures
by virtue Of this even when they pro-
coed upon an altogether false diagnostic
basis.
| It Is thus expressed in an article by
DIR. william A. White, superintendent
of st. EliZabetl1's Hospital: THE neces-
;ary implication that mans wish for inn
mortality has been the force that called
medicine into being Is that the energy
at the disposal of this wish or desire
must be very great indeed. and. further,
that 1t is this fundamental desire that
represents the dynamic assets OF the
patient with which the doctor has to
work and that constitute the greatest
source of the doctors power"
But with the development OF con-
stitutlonal medicine waiting upon the
training of a generation of men with
q thorough grounding not only In medi.
cine and general human biology but
also I'm psychology and psychiatry, this
member Of the committee admits, the
changing social order may demand some
such adjustment as the diagnostic clinic.
He is studying the methods followed
and the progress Of diagnostic clinics
already established, together with other
termine whether q feasible plan can
be worked out for Washington.
AS a result of an outline of the plan
published In The Star several responses
enthusiastically indorsing the plan have
been received including those from
phyicians and nurses familiar With the
great economic difficulties encountered
by many families who are caught by
long continued illness.