DOCTORS' CONFERENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21251, 3 August 1932, Page 11

DOCTORS' CONFERENCE

OWN PROFESSION CRITICISED INTERESTS OF THE PATIENT LONDON. July 27 Candid criticism of members' of their own profession marked some of the papers read by doctors at the opening session; of the British Medical Association's cen- • tenary conference. The conference is divided into 24 sections, and 2000 doctors will discuss papers containing a total of more than 1.000,000 words. . Dr. Macfie Campbell, director of the Boston psychopathic Hospital, in urging a modernisation of the bedside manner, declared that a physician's first task was to listen to complaints, grasp the difficulty as it appears to the patient, and then account for the symptom's origin and exploitation, and not merely register as delusions any statements conflicting with his experience. Lord Dawson of Tenn, in his presidential address, insisted on the necessity for doctors considering mental conditions when diagnosing. "The art of medicine," lie said, "embraces an understanding _ of illness. We need to take count of the whole man." . v Lord Dawsoti urged the formation of health hostels for "people with fat bodies c ( and fat heads," who were clogged with their own metabolic products. The kitchens of the hostels should be under trained dietitians. Remarkable Cases Cited t v '-'I;.Dr. Campbell instanced remarkable v |r cases, notably that of a Russian schoolboy who developed convulsions on hearing a fly buzzing on a window-pane, or on seeing a sunlit wall or deal table, which recalled memories of the home 1 where he had been reared by an over- ' solicitous mother. Also Dr. Campbell told of a Woman who suffered from indigestion owing to : her husband's intoxication causing emoi tional mobilisation which resulted Jn a ! cessation of digestion. Referring to the ! effects of worry, Dr. Campbell said: ; "When stocks go up, diabetes goes down." Dr. James Mennall, of St. Thomas' Hospital, attributed the immense reputation of unqualified osteopaths for curing | a variety of ailments to doctors' errors | in diagnosis. He added that the claims of I manipulative success ough't to bo tested, blind unbelief being mere pigheadedness. ! Wliilo doctors refused patients the relief they sought, which could bo obtained else- ' where, they were only playing into the I hands of the unqualified practitioner. Lower Standard of Knowledge | Professor Okell, of University College , Hospital, urged the treatment of measles ! by serum, but said the difficulty was that as no domestic animal appeared to be susceptible to measles tho only source of serum was a human being suffering i'lotn the disease. The immediate problem was the collection of sufficient serum to enable a scientific trial to be made, but the public could not be blamed, as doctors had done little to organise such a collection and convince the public of its necessity, t Dr. Macarthur, an army physician, declared that the. standard/of knowledge of general medicine was lower than when ho qualified/ some examinees being deplorably ignorant.