The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-03-17
LABOR AND PHYSICIANS
LOOK AT SOCIAL SECURITY
THE MEDICAL ASPECTS OF
SOCIAL SECURITY
BY DR.. w. G. RICHARDS

: desire was expressed to get back tc
: what was called normally. What
} normally was no one seemed quite
: to know, but it furnished a catchword
which epitomized the opposition tC
the forward-looking policies of Presi
dent Wilson, and succeeded in elect
ing as president the gentleman re-
, sponsible for the term. What the Sc
quel was l need not remind you
, There are some who voice the same
, sentiments now, but, whether we like
. it or not the conditions at the close
of this war will compel us to make
many alterations in our habits and
ways of living. Hospital and medical
services are likely to be included in
these changes, especially after 10 mil
lion or more men return to civil life
who have become accustomed to re-
ceiving these whenever needed with
out charge.
| Until comparatively recently it did
not much matter what the basis of
medical practice was, for medicine
had really little to offer that was
worth while. The doctor made a great
buster with his bleedings, purgings,
and blisterings, but these had little
scientific foundation, and his prescrip-
tons even less. Some simple surgery
was done, but this was mostly left
to an inferior grade of doctors or
even the BARRIERS. Anything elaborate
was impossible because of a total ig-
norance of sepsis and antisepsis. His
affectation of knowledge, however,
caused him to be called on during
sickness, when the patient or his re-
latives were at their wits end and
knew not what to do, for then, as now,
these wanted to "have something
done" The poor did not suffer much
from their inability to employ him,
| for, left alone either the natural re-
paratiye powers of the body overcame
the sickness or the victim was per-
mitted to die in peace.
But in the last century or so medi-
cine developed. Disease was really
studied, and all the newer methods of
research were utilized. From being
mostly a matter of theory and spec
ulation it became science. The elm
| ical manifestations of disease and the
changes produced by it in the organs
and tissues of the body as revealed
by post norton examinations were
compared and the knowledge gained
thereby utilized in the diagnosis and
treatment of similar conditions. Bac-
teriology and entomology were studied
in relation to sickness, and the causes
and means of transmission of infec.
tious diseases elucidated. The great
advances in analytical and synthetic
chemistry were pressed into service,
and drugs were produced which would
kill basteria and other living agents
of disease without also killing the pa
tient. The body's own chemistry was
studied and synthetic substances de-
vised which would supply deficiencies
and correct perversions of those nor
mally produced in the body and nee
essary for the preservation Of health. |
Much remains to be done. We are |
far from a complete knowledge of the |
causes and means of propagation of
many diseases and without the means
of successfully combating them.
am afriad, too that we are often |
given credit for knowing more than
we really do, a state of mind, / am
sorry to say, frequently emphasized |
by unwise and overly enthusiastic
articles in popular magazines, and
leading to disappointment when we |
fail to relieve peoples troubles. They
are too apt to attribute this to the
inexcusable ignorance of some partic-
ular practitioner, and travel from doc
tor to doctor and place to place in a
vain chase for an impossible cure,
often falling into the hands of the
in the process.
But with all our deficiencies we
CAN cure diseases now which we
were never able to cure before, and |
many which we cannot cure we know
how to prevent. We have no specific |
cure for typhoid fever, for instance,
but knowing it's bacterial cause and
the way it is spread, it is possible by
W lUG WdiCl Supplito anu
food contamination largely to prevent
it, and as a result typhoid is now
comparatively rare. In addition,
where the means of transmission of
the basterial cause cannot be con-
trolled, preventive incubation can
still prevent the disease. So success
full is this that whereas in the Boer
War 1925 men died of typhoid against
7 ,5S2 Of wounds, and in the Spanish
American war there was 20,738 cases
of typhoid with 1880 deaths and only
243 actual battle casualties, in the
last world war with preventive inocu-
lation it was a negligible disease
213 deaths, in all in the American
army (Oxford Medicine, Oxford Uni
versity Press, N. Y, vol w, p. 678;
Osler, Principles and Practice of Med
icine, Sth edition 1912, d. Appleton &
Co., N. Y. PIP. 2, 81. tuberculosis,
yellow fever and typhus also show
how similar knowledge can reduce
their incidence. Advances in physi-
ology have helped us in the treatment
Of diabetes and pernicious anemia,
neither~of which we can actually cure,
but, by providing the lacking sub
stance, can make them harmless-in-
sulin in the case of diabetes and liver
extract in pernicious anemia. Syn
thetic chemistry, that is, the making
Of chemical compounds, can cure
syphilis, and more recently with the
sulfonilamide drugs very much re-