On the mortality arising from abdominal hernia : with suggestions for its diminution / by John Birkett.

  • Birkett, John, 1815-1904.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the mortality arising from abdominal hernia : with suggestions for its diminution / by John Birkett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    manipulation, the taxis; or by cutting the impediment which opposes that step, the operation. 3. The taxis should be Scientific, gentle, assisted by constitutional and local measures, never used when the bowel may be suspected to be diseased, not prolonged inordinately, and never too frequently repeated. 4. The operation must be immediately performed, as quickly as pos- sible after the surgeon knows that he has failed to replace the protru- sion by other means. In conclusion, I submit that I have only performed a public duty in calling the attention of the profession to a class of diseases from wljich a high, too high, mortality arises; for of what value are the death- returns of the Registrar-General, if we do not comment upon them, and attempt to reduce them by every means in our power? For a high death-rate from any special disease always shows our inability to com- bat successfully with it. Especially are we called upon to perform this duty when death ensues upon those diseases which are more under the control of the surgeon than usually happens, and when, by acting upon fixed principles of practice, the fatal issue may be almost certainly averted. Such reflections cannot fail to force themselves upon the atten- tion of the hospital surgeon who has to relieve the patients suffering under strangulated hernia, and admitted weekly, sometimes daily, into his wards. How constantly the expression escapes the operating surgeon, “ If they had but sent this case earlier !”, no one knows so well as he who has long pursued his calling in the wards of the metropolitan hos- pitals. I believe that many individual members of the profession are in total ignorance of the annual mortality from hernia; and I would venture to state, on the broad basis of experience, that, if they know what the numbers amount to, they must be, as evidenced by the treat- ment commonly pursued, totally ignorant of the best means to adopt to save life. Let us hope that one effect of introducing this subject to the consideration of the members of this Association may be to produce a marked diminution in the deaths arising from hernia; for the Reports of the Registrar-General must ever continue to be the test and sure de- monstrative evidence of improvement and of advance in the curative re- sults of practical surgery. T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, W C.