The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-05-26

clined TO think the public is very
much in favor of this bill or at
least for some plan which will level
the expensiveness and aloofness Of
private practice Of medicine and
make the benefits Of modern med
ical science more Immediately
available to the mass Of the peo-
pie. Call that the socialization Of
medicine II you want 10, but some
such change seems TO me TO be
inevitable in the future.
In the meantime the practice Of
industrial surgery is gradually
pushing it nearer for large slices
Of the population, and the war has
given great impetus to the
broadening of industrial surgery.
Henry Kaiser has shown what 1t
can eventually do as described in
Paul de Kruif's book Kaiser Wakes
the Doctors. 1t means, in short,
that the industrial surgeons and
doctors and dentists employed by
a manufacturing plant will take
care not only Of the workers them
selves but Of all their families
when they are sick.
said above that the growth Of
industrial surgery has been grad
ual, but it is a very steady evolu-
ton towards the goal ! have just
mentioned. Indeed l have seen
during my own professional life
the status Of the industrial sur
geon change completely. Thirty
seven years ago, when | began to
practice medicine, the industrial
surgeon was employed by liabil-
ity insurance company for the
plant aud had an Office downtown
away from the plant, and when
any accidents occurred the victim
was usually sent to his Office and
the doctor treated him there. Or,
if it was serious, the victim was
put in an ambulance and the doc
tor met him in hospital.
Later the industrial surgeon had
an Office at the plant and spent
some hours of the day there. Then
he spent all day there. First there
was a surgeon, then there was q
surgeon and a physician, and now
there is surgeon, physician and
a dentist in plants of any size.
And the big ones have hospitals
of their own. And a few of them,
as a sign Of the times, have add
ed an obstetrician to the medical
staff.
In the meantime, too, the whole
attitude of the industrial surgeon
has changed - from thinking in
terms of treatment alone to think
ing in terms of prevention. The
idea is dinned into the workers
head that the slightest cut or abra-
sion is to be taken to the doctor
immediately, not wait till it fest
ers. This is simply intelligent sell
fishness or the part ~ the indus.
trial executives, as, indeed, all the
developments of industrial sur
gerry are.
Preventive medicine Is carried
still further. For instance, work.
ers who apply at plants where
dyes, shellacs, varnishes and GER
tain acids harmless to most peo-
pie, but poisonous to allergic peo-
pie are interviewed by the plant
doctor as to whether they ever
had hay fever or asthma or as a
child eczema. Or even whether a
brother or sister or parent ever
had those things. Because such
people are prone to develop skin
rashes when exposed to certain
chemicals. They can be put at
other jobs and lot of grief saved.
Industrial surgery is also de-
veloping new techniques. Hydro
fouric acid on the skin was known
to burn down through flesh until
it hit bone and then it stopped. An
industrial surgeon asked why and
concluded that it was because bone
was an organic calcium. So now
he treats his hydrofouric acid
burns with organic calcium salts
and the burns are not so deep.
You can see what benefits this
sort Of thing would bring if ex-
tended to the whole population.
The doctors are not all so
against socialized medicine as you