The diagnostician : an American specialist who will come : a plea for his establishment now, and the elevation of diagnosis / by Anthony Bassler.

  • Bassler, Anthony, 1874-
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The diagnostician : an American specialist who will come : a plea for his establishment now, and the elevation of diagnosis / by Anthony Bassler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/10 (page 3)
    the largest advantage of the patient, is obscured. such divergence there must come a reaction, ror tne stimulation of initiative, for the development of seli- reliance and the fresh kindling of the torch of knowledge, we should rejoice; but from the egoism that is engen- dered, from the incompetence that passes at par value, from the corroding selfishness of our nature, we should be delivered. In the awakening of a professional con- science it is plain that arbitration cannot come from the surgeon, the average type of internist, the specialist, or even be made by the general practitioner who should. With the advance of surgery in America, there are too many men who disregard the opinions of internists, criticise the laboratory, hesitate with the X ray, have not a fair receptive attitude to the spe- cialist, and who depend upon what they call “sur- gical diagnosis”—a development of America which is as absurd as it is ridiculous. Such men, taking advantage of the lack of danger in exploratory in- cision, depend too much upon this to make diag- noses for them. This unfortunate development of surgery is greatly due to the teachings of the mas- ter minds in it, notably the two best known in America, who teach “a wide incision, expose the parts well, and visually examine.” It must said in fairness to the advance of sur- gery, that surgeons have met with many deficien- cies on the part of men in the other branches. While surgeons deserve a great credit for what has been accomplished in a therapeutic sense and in showing up the deficiencies of their allied col- leagues, it can never be an American standard of surgery that exploratory incisions must be made for the purpose of diagnosis. There are two main reasons why: First, the average patient believes that we know more of diagnosis than we do and will not submit to surgical exploration to make a diagnosis in the average chronic and obscure case, and, secondly, that while this may be safe in the hands of the main exponents of it, it is an unsafe doctrine to spread broadcast because it leads to sur- gical exploitation and lack of interest on the part of surgeons in becoming better diagnosticians.