INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18941, 12 February 1925, Page 7

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Sir,—Are there no means to save oar little paralysis victims from the A brains and other "quack treatments ? We hava numbers of parents- in our midst , who, like Mr. Anderson, refuse to wait foislow results, and will try anything to long as a "cure" is guaranteed. Yet even he calls attention to the wonderful remedial work at Rotorua, and says bo would accept the treatment given there before any other. Does he imagine that chiropractic methods, etc., are carried out at King George Hospital ? If so, let him obtain the views of the surgeons and highly trained nurses there, ft is surely for those who have studied this dread disease and others, from every point of view, to judge when electrical treatment shoijjd he. given, and how. The admirably clear statement in tho Herald by tlie physiotherapeutist at the Auckland Hospital should be a warning to parents of these helpless little ones to give them their only chance of recovery—that of expert surgical skill and advice—not to try experiments. Anyone who read the reports of a recent case, in which tho Abrams treatment was under review, must also have perceived how utterly valueless it proved when subjected to proper tests. Dr. Pettitt '"does not promise a cure." "He has had no experience of this treatment with infantile paralysis"! How can he state that it can "do no harm" ? Yet, no doubt, many cases will be put into hii hands, "by way of experiment,." A medical man could put these facts in more convincing and intelligent form, but the pro- . fession seems chai-y of interfering with or influencing public opinion. As a lover of children, and a very keen sympathiser with the parents of those who have contracted infantile paralysis, I may ha forgiven for expressing my views on this important subject. Axxlotjs Parent*