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Show MEDICAL FAILURE8. An Authority 8ays Three-Fourths of Graduates Are Unfitted to Practice.. That 3,000 out of tho 4,000 graduates gradu-ates turned out by tho Modlcal Colleges Col-leges each year are whollly unfitted to practice medicine nnd aro menaces to tho communities in which they settle set-tle was stated by Dr. Chester Mayor, of tho Stato Hoard of Medical Examiners Exam-iners ot Kentucky at a meeting of tho American Medical Association's Committee Com-mittee on Medical Education, held In Chicago not long ago. Dr. Mayer said that only 2C to 28 per cent of tho graduates nro qualified. Fifty-eight per cent ot the graduates examined In 28 states wero refused licenses. With fow exceptions these failures took a second examination In a tow weeks nnd only GO per cent of them passed. "This does not mean that deficiencies deficien-cies in their training wero corrected In thoso few weeks," Dr. Mayer said. "It probably shows that experience showed them what tho test would probably bo and thoy 'crammed' for tho examination. Dr. W. T. Gott, Secretary of tho Indiana Board said: "Tho majority of our schools now teach their students how to pass examinations, ex-aminations, not how to bo good physicians." phy-sicians." At tho session of tho American Medical Association held in Atlantlo City In Juno, Dr. M. Clayton Thrush, a professor in tho Medico Chlrurglcal College in Philadelphia said: "Many doctors turned out ot tho Medical Schools aro so Ignorant in matters, pertaining to pharmacy that they know nothing about tho properties of tho drugs they prcscrlbo for their patients!" Dr. Henry Heats, Jr., President Pres-ident of tho Pennsylvania State Hoard ot Medical Examiners, after scrutinizing scrutiniz-ing tho 'papers of a class ot candidates candi-dates for llcensuro said: "About ono quarter ot tho papers show a degree ot illiteracy that renders tho candidates candi-dates for licensure incapablo of understanding un-derstanding medicine." A great many moro physicians and chemists might bo quoted in support of tho astounding chargo that 3,000 in-compotents in-compotents are being dumped onto an unsuspecting public each year. What tho damago dono amounts to can never bo estimated for thoso incompetents in-competents enjoy tho privilege of diagnosing, di-agnosing, prescribing or dispensing drugs regarding tho properties ot which thoy know nothing and then ot signing death certificates that nro not passed upon by nuyono unless tho coroner is called In. Probably thoro is not a grave yard from ono end ot tho country to tho other that does not contnln the burled evidences of tho mistakes or criminal carelessness ot lucompctcnt pliyslclnns. During tho last year there have been porhaps, half n dozen known cases whero surgeons, after performing perform-ing operations havo sewed up tho Incisions In-cisions without first removing tho gauze sponges used to absorb tho blood, and In somo c.ises forcops and .ovcu surgeon's scissors havo been left in tho wound. How many of theBo cases thcro liavo been, where the patient died, thcro Is no means of knowing nnd comparatively fow of tho cases whero tho discovery is mndo in tlmo to save life become generally gen-erally public. Hcports from Sanitariums Sanita-riums for tho treatment of tho Drdg Habit show that members of tho medical medi-cal profession aro moro often treated in thoso Institutions than members of any othor profession, and that a majority of tho patients, excluding tho physicians themselves, can trace their downfall directly to a careless physician. How many criminal operations aro performed by physicians is also a matter ot conjecture. Operations of this class nre, unfortunately, vory frequent In largo cities. Somo graduated gradu-ated olid licensed physicians, mnny of them of supposed respectability, mako nn exclustvo practice of criminal crim-inal medical and surgical treatment Dr. Henry O. W. Ilhelnhart, Coroner's physician ot Chicago, estimates tho number of criminal operations, annu-allly, annu-allly, In Chicago nlono at 3S.000. How many resulted fatally nro unknown, as when death results, tho real causo is disguised In tho death certificate, which tho physician signs, nnd which no ono but himself and a clerk sees. Probably not ono caso of mal practice prac-tice in 1,000 ever becomes tho subject of a law suit but in tho last year approximately ap-proximately 100 cases wherein tho plaintiff has alleged malpractice havo been reported in the newspapers, and owing to tho social prominence and tho favored positions of many physicians physi-cians not moro than halt tbo now suits stated, probably, rckult in any newspaper publicity, but it would probably not bo nn exaggeration to stato that tho total cases of malpractice, malprac-tice, not Involving criminal opuiatlonH or criminal medical practice, would amount to 150,000 or moro than ono enso to each physician in tho country. This cstlmato Is, of coutso, moro or less conjecture. Untimely deaths and permanent disabilities aro frequent, and occur within tho knowledge of almost al-most every ono, when life could have been saved, or health restored had tho physician been skillful, careful and competent |