Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-10
PLAN TO ESTABLISH
CANCER CLINICS HIT.
Controversy Over Coffey-
Humber Treatment to Reach
Peak in New York Hearing.
BY LEMUEL F. PARTON.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

bpecial DlSpatch 10 the star.
NEW YORK, March 10.-A national
controversy in medical and lay circles
ove- the CofTey- Humber cancer treat
ment comes to an issue here today, with
a hearing before the State Board of
Social Welfare on the application of the
sponsors of the treatment for permission
to establish clinics in New York.
While Eastern msdical opinion is mo-
bilized against the San F. ancisco ply
sicians, they claim the backing Of a
number of leading coast physicians and
cite the patent records to show that Dr.
Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the
Interior, wrote a letter to the Patent
Office urging expedition in granting the
patent. Dr. Wilbur had examined the
findings of clinical researches on the
coast
DR.. Walter B. Coffey and DR.. John
b. Humber announced their method in
San Francisco early last year. Dr. Cot
fey is chief surgeon Of the General Hos
pital of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
While he INSISTS that the first an
nouncement was made in county med
ical journal the general public first
learned of the method through color
full story in a San Francisco news
paper. DR.. Coffey denied later that he
was in any way responsible for this pub
licity, but since then, he says, he has
found medical opinion increasingly hos
tile.
California Clinics Opened.
Capt. Robert Dollar, the steamship
magnate and other wealthy San Fran
cisco citizens, supplied funds to estab-
lish the Better Health Foundation" on
the coast. The foundation opened
clinics at San Francisco, Los Angeles
and Long Beach, where thousands of
persons have been trea0d. The records
of these treatments and their results
will constitute an important detail Of
the evidence in todays hearing. DR..
Coffey, while insisting that he does not
claim cure for cancer, offers clinical
records to show that in nearly 30 per
cent of the cases treated, malignant
tissue was sloughed off.
Mrs. Grace Hammond Corners, widow
of William j. Corners, Democratic lead
er, newspaper publisher and ship owner
of Buffalo, appears as an eager cham
pion for DR.. Humber and his proposed
New York clinics. She and the two
San Francisco physicians are attending
today's hearing. Mrs. Corners an
nounced last october that she had given
her 81 100000 country estate, the Mon
astery, at Long Island to the Better
Health Foundation for a cancer clinic.
She also volunteered to procure 100000
toward the support OF the clinic.
Personal Study of Clinics.
81 went to the coast and made a
personal study of the Coffey-H Humber
clinics" said Mrs. Corners today. Il
was unable to judge from the conflicting
opinions of doctors, SO all I could do
was to ask the patients whether the
treatment was helping them. They said
It was.
II have had many pitiful letters from
cancer sufferers asking me to help them.
When observed that the Coffey-
Humber clinics were not accepting a
cent of money from any one, and when
I saw the treatments were being admin
istered by responsible physicians who
were enthusiastic over the results, I
concluded that this was splendid,
humane undertaking which ought to re-
ceiye support.
Opposing the request for New York !
permit for the clinics are DR.. John A. I
Hsrtwell, president of the New York |
Academy of Medicine; DR.. Gordon Heyd, /
president of the New York County Med /
ical Society: DR.. Francis Carter Wood, |
director Ct the Institute of Cancer Re-
search Of Columbia University, and DR.. |
Clarence z. Little, managing director |
of the American Society for the Control |
Of Cancer.
Copyright, 1879