PATIENT'S LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 170, 20 July 1928, Page 7

PATIENT'S LIFE.

HIS OWN PREROGATIVE Question Of Prolonging Hopeless Suffering. CANCER DEBATE. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, July 19. The International Conference on Cancer arranged by the British Empire Cancer Campaign was continued yesterday, Sir John Bland-Sutton presiding. Several speakers dealt with the subject of occupational cancer. They directed attention to its incidence in workers among soot, coal-tar briquetting and mineral oil. The speakers also drew attention to the preponderance of cancer of the lip and tongue among smokers according to British statistics, notably among workers using clay pipes or having diseased teeth. Mr. T. H. C. Stevenson, secretary of the Royal Statistical Society, commented on the outstanding position of tho clergy in relation to cancer. He said the mortality amongst Anglican and Non-conformist clergymen was very low compared with the rest of the population. Roman Catholic priests and monks also occupied honourable positions. Sir Thomas Horder, physician in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, said the question of prolonging life in the presence of cancer neither operable nor capable of reabsorption by radiation, was only part of the general question of prolonging the life of incurables. It had been said that to prolong life in a case of hopeless disease was often to prolong the act of dying. No universal rule could be laid down. A patient's life was his own prerogative. The problem could only be solved by the exercise of tact, discretion and constant reflection. The patient was the central figure on the stage. Cancers of the breast, mouth, throat, and tongue later engaged the conference. The contributors to the discussion were mostly British and American, but the J conference unanimously concurred in the value of radium treatment for the breast in preference to operation, except in most extreme cases. There were, however, widely different views expressed. Lead Injections. Professor W. Biair Bell, of Liverpool University, who suggested the possible conquest of cancer by lead treatment, said he had treated hundreds by injections of lead salts with results that justified his optimism. It had been long known that lead arrested growth generally, and, although definite conclusions had not been reached, that appeared to be the possible action of lead in regard to cancer, both local and constitutional.

Dr. Gaspari, Frankfort, supported Professor Bell, but Dr. Simpson, of New York, disagreed. A summary of the answers of numerous American medical men did not confirm Professor Bell.