RT Journal
A1 WIGGINS JL
T1 THe abuse of surgery
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1909
FD February 27
VO LII
IS 9
SP 682
OP 683
DO 10.1001/jama.1909.25420350008001b
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1909.25420350008001b
AB The prevailing custom of requiring an annual address from the president of the association presents a delightful opportunity to scold without being scolded in return. I shall use the privilege to consider some of the abuses of surgery by amateur surgeons; by which I do not mean life-saving procedures at which it is impossible to secure an experienced operator, but operations of choice.By the time the medical student graduates he is imbued with the idea that surgery is the only department of medicine worth considering; after serving a period as hospital interne he is still more firmly convinced of the truth of the idea. Everything that pertains to general practice finds him listless and uninterested; only an opportunity to shed blood wakes him up. The young practitioner's newly-furnished offices contain a profusion of surgical instruments and works on surgery; his single work on general practice is scarcely touched. After