THE CRAZE FOR SURGERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1019, 16 March 1912, Page 4

THE CRAZE FOR SURGERY.

The profession ol medicine has been approaching the parting oi the ways with giant strides daring the last decade. The tendency in the direction ot the destruction of the science of diagnosis, by the free use of the knile, is much to be regretted, and, unless the leaders ot the prolessiou take counsel and call a halt, one branch of the medical profession, and some ot the most important and essential rights of the patient, may be sacrificed. There was a time when the practice was that no operation should be undertaken by a surgeon except in the presence of a physician, and with the latter’s consent. From the communications which constantly reach us, and from the general trend of professional and public opinion, we have come to ihe conclusion, if the art of medicine is to continue as an honoured profession, and not to degenerate into a mere trade, that it is essential the leaders shall put their heads together and formulate a modern code of ethics, which will be binding upon all members of the medical prolessiou. The growth of surgical interference and the enormous improvement iu technical method and facility, and iu the skill exhibited by the operator, with the consequent excellence of many of the results to the patients who have placed themselves iu the hands of a modern surgeon, have rendered it possible for some members ot the profession to earn incomes far beyond those which were formerly within the reach of the most eminent practitioners. It has so come to pass that a successful surgeon may hud himself iu the position ot a man who has so many patients clamouring for his individual services, irrespective of the large fees which he may be able to command, that success has embraced him with a rapidity which has proved dangerous rather than advantageous. The profession can supply instances where enormous success and the sudden command ot apparently unlimited supplies have urged the individual forward more and more until the constant devotion to work has superseded even the ability with whicu that work was done, and has ended a career ot splendid attainment and bard earned reputation with a suddenness, so tragic iu all its consequences, as to be terrible indeed,—-The Hospital.