KILLING NO MURDER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2530, 17 June 1909, Page 2

KILLING NO MURDER.

THE LUST FOR THE KNIFE

(From “Tho Citizen.”)

When the civilisation of to-day comes to be examined by the. dispassionate historian the thing that will strike him as more curious than any other of our absurd social arrangements will be the rage for surgical operation —tho lust of the surgeon, to operate, and the. mania which urges the people to submit themselves to operation. **, * * *

“Mr Brown's gone,” says one 1 A hat did he die of?” t „ “Appendicitis.” “Very sudden, wasn’t it?” “Rather. He was operated on last Thursday, and, was getting on splendidly. On Sunday he had aT relapse, and was dead by the evening.” “Wonder if lie would have died if they hadn't operated?” “Oh, my dear fellow, don’t talk like that They had three doctors, all good men, and the operation was entirely successful.”

“From which point of view? No doubt they got Brown’s inflamed appendix all right, but how about Brown ? Do you reckon lie is satisfied?” “Well, he can’t talk, so he doesn’t matter. But if ho isVi’t, ho ought to be.”

“I’ll admit ho was dismissed strictly according to the regulations. But in a clearer atmosphere and from a detached standpoint may he not be thinking that tho regulations want altering?”

We are all agreed that no mail ouglit to be the judge in his own case. The time has come to say that no class shall be the judge in its own case. What are the facts. about surgical operations? Is it not true that if one properly qualified man cuts into you and you die in consequence, your slayer gets off scot free, if another properly Qualified man will certify that vour death could not be . helped? They never poke out one another’s eyes, and the position is that we have a class which is privileged to put our lives in jeopardy, and to judge its own case when it has killed us. ♦ * * X •

This sort goeth not out save by statistics. It is high time that we got a record of operations performed within the Dominion. The law says every householder must register a birth in his house, whether he is interested in it or not. It should now say that he must register an operation. Every clulv qualified man should register and name each operation as he performs it, and the subsequent fate of the person operated on, as far as he knows it. Sufficient penalties for omission to register should be imposed oil both householder and operator in order that the law may be respected. When we get results they will bo tabulated in all sorts of ways, and a particular operation may come out like this: Removal of Appendix (1910). Total Operations. Recoveries. Deaths. 70 70 None. Or like this : 70 30 40 I don’t know which it will resemble, •neither do you. But it is high time wo did know. We have read so often in our newspaper, “The operation was entirely successful, but the patient died subsequently from exhaustion,” that some of us doubt whether the second fine doesn't give a more probable anticipation than the first. *****

“But if the people want operations, and the faculty wants them, what have got to grumble at?” Nothing whatever. I am for freedom, first, last, and all the time. But —I want the people to ask for operation with their eyes open. I want them to know whether their chance of surviving is as 1 to 1, 1 to 2, or I to 10. Nothing you or I can say on that point is convincing or even persuasive. Therefore I want figures, the figures of von Dadelzen, Registrar General, unprejudiced ancl unimpeachable. If they came out like the second fine and Brown saw that 40 out of 70 had died after operation for the relief of his disease, he might decide that he would keep his appendix and reject the odds about his recovery. ♦****•

Current in New Zealand to-day is a •grim jest whose circulation is .significant of a public opinion which will back “The Citizen’s” demand for registration of operations: Young Practitioner (with deep respect)—“What did you operate oh" that man for?”

Old Practitioner—“ Fifty pounds.” Y.P.— “Yes, but 1 mean, what had he got that made you operate?” O.P.—“Fifty pounds.” * * ■» * »

If you are ill and will go to ■bed and fast, Mother Nature, will usually make you Avell again. She employs your vital force to that end. Dirt if,? being already ill,, you go into .action and sustain a severe wound, you : rather! .handicap the old lady, don’t you thinkff'fioYoqr, Vital force is first lowered by a fresh -calt-to heal. Don’t be ■ deceived by the .and-oantisepticsfoilHoweveui )tlkeynMr%dtlwjy tact that ca! wovffid jsga Jw<iuiid>yandeiriv'n]Osfci)o:ases iWfleas af the-jvi-tality of tho human being that sustains ri * jut?/ jl i) 'G 5. ffy X" 1 H./Andvdpqft infagine-rthat ,thb facility,led by His Worship the .Mhiyoirfyiyvili storm and - wreck *‘The Citizen” off)co •the day : ''tifteri(this appears,! sand) lynch i thCHeditou l ift they,, pan, «ratch i him. (Half • ,of (them; .will,applaud,j i Qf,„tf)e la great.mhpynwill wf# “Of coprjsjriffihpre is too much operating... But. my.patient • §ays;i |T; j f}o'rf± | flpq it,' : ( spimp,ipne o plsp.,,wil|l,.!. I’d, ifj the ; figures,, jcjidupu-t’em, jt/' Apd if jyqiPAmd AfyquaHfipd mf(n, lately, .from, file Old Country,, ,}]g uvill are too free with the knife. Men at,t(emp(i; thiiig. ?/1 ,l ? ei-f fi im IpPff'q would, : - ,liio jo : o ,;Einallyi r ,fqr,, ,the protection of i ,..the .-v#. «t Hr jtjrat ,pp r man,., lioweyer nualmeq, shall, .under pain, of trial ,for ~iyate‘ without, the' jo! 'the patient'or ’of' nis / ' l ritid4 , est' [ rehiti l vL )( |l : we. must, die, 7/ wo must die • liut, let us not be murderously assaulted' while wo are too hi to '.ddfdn'tl W i&vlvfls.• j (;<! i iTn’T/ I<ll 7rmn/l" .nr r'vi-nrj