GLAMOUR OF OPERATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1926, Page 6

GLAMOUR OF OPERATIONS

"No blame attachable to anyone" appears to have become the stereotyped verdict in cases of persons dying under anaesthetics. Its apparent frequency has caused a little uneasiness in the public mind, which the statement made on the subject by the Department of Health and published in "The Post" on Saturday should help to allay. In 1923 there were thirteen deaths under anaesthetics, in 1924 there were twenty-five, and last year twenty. Official opinion is that there is no increase in deaths from this cause; but it is not clear whether these deaths were Coroners' findings or just causes stated in registrations. It is a matter for expert medical opinion to settle, but some anaesthetists hold that there are certain unmistakable signs or warnings manifested when a patient is "going under," and that if neglected or' not discerned inevitably result in death. That is no question for the layman to determine; but what anyone without medical knowledge can understand is that the line between death under anaesthetics and from the causes calling for operation must sometimes be exceedingly fine. There, again, it is the medical man who has the last word. But the greatest value of the Department's statement on anaesthetics as a cause of death lies in the resultant medical comments on those remarks, namely, the gravity and risky character of operations in general and the need for investigation into' their frequency. This is undoubtedly a matter of serious import to tho public and to the credit of the medical profession. Operations, albeit they possess a glamour for certain types of mind, are costly under the most ecdnomical conditions and having regard to the most generous attitude of the practitioner in respect to his account. It was pointed out at the recent conference of Hospital Boards in Dunedin that operations should not bo undertaken except after careful consultation oi at least two medical practitioners, one of whom should be a physician. This implies that the patient should first consult his own medical adviser and, if an operation is ordered, two more medical men. No doubt a desirable and sensible - course to. take; but in such circumstances it may well mean incurring a huge burden of debt, combined with possible cessation of income in the form of salary or wages, a burden that may never be lifted until its carrier submits to the final operation from which there is no recovery; Some medical opinion elicited as a result of the inquiry into the number of deaths under anaesthetics goes to show that the frequency and risks of operating call for investigation. Are , there too many operations? Are all of them absolutely necessary? Could Nature, in some cases, have "made a better job of it" if assisted by the physician and tho nurse? Are there cases put off and put off until too late for the surgeon to do more than essay a forlorn hope, yet put off for fear of the expense? These are questio.ns—but a few of them —that agitate the public mind, especially of that very large section of the public which is indisposed to trespass on the good nature of its medical man, but is ceaselessly fighting against being a charge on the community in sickness or in health. An examination into the frequency and risks of operations would certainly bring some interesting and important facts to light, and would be all to tho public good. This is a matter in which the medical profession can take the public into its confidence.