SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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C24 '7f-44 'Na A 'ISEKQJF 'vb' As a specialty Pathology offers unusual advantages to the student. This is a large and rapidly extending field of observation and research. Competition in this branch of Medicine is negligible. - In private practice a good pathologist commands a liberal remuneration for his efforts. Every hospital requires the services of one or more yrvq I ' i f' . U .,- :' -ur 4 lf I levi Ji? V rf 'A I pathologists, and the number of Hospitals is rapidly increasing. 3 2 1 I l I I I I Aisle in Palhalogy Museum I I ARCHIBALD MURRAY, M.D., Professor CALVIN B. COULTER, A.lVl., lVl.D., Assistant Professor Q if 9 CHARLES WUEST, lVl.D., Instructor in Medica-Legal Pathology WILLIAM M. HALA, M.D., Instructor '1 sq ff ' 'fg Q32 f H rrlrxieffs-ui f Pew 19 f.-, , . -..qf, .. .r xanga H4515 fsi:knfkrQwT Page Tmenly- lhrcc

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L V01 Qiqgcxfgfs' A '- ur'-ra 'qw -- .. . .'.',1F:'f nS r 5132 5432 I I Fm During the year of 1921, a total of 2905 examinations were made for the VW' My Hospital. The following report represents the work done z- 6 Piwvfl . Q . . .' 'I - E r Tissues examined microscopically. ..... . . 642 U Wasserman Reactions, blood ........ . . . 1836 . Wasserman Reactions, Spinal Fluid. . . . . 274 Special Examinations of Urine ...... . 79 Autopsies performed ................... 74 1 During the year 1921, there were 312 deaths in the Hospital and 74 autopsies were performed. This gives us a percentage of 23.7 percent, a rather poor showing. considering our facilities. If the cases from the Department of Medicine are considered ' alone the percentage is 41 percent. Several reasons might be given to account for this ' low figure, but the most important are adverse public opinion and prejudices of various kinds. The term autopsy generally conveys to the public mind the idea of dissection or mutilation of some kind. This idea is entirely erroneous. The body is not dissected or mutilated in any way. The organs are examined and small portions taken for micro- scopical examination and the body is then turned over to the undertaker for embalming. The public also fails to appreciate the importance of an autopsy. Among the benefits to be derived might be mentioned the following: : Cal The importance of the autopsy in determining the true cause of death. fbi The study of a particular case may help in the treatment or diagnosis of other similar cases. I ' fc, The family or relatives are enabled to learn regarding the presence of con- stitutional disease. fdl The knowledge derived from the autopsy as an aid to the progress of medical and surgical science for the proper understanding of the disease. fel The importance of correct vital statistics to the community, since the autopsy i is the only reliable evidence on which to have such statistics. ffl The aid of the exact cause of death as revealed by the autopsy in the settle- l ment of insurance claims. ' The fact that we know today the direct cause bf many diseases, does not mean that we can dispense with the autopsy or the microscopical examination of the tissues. , Take diphtheria, for example. We know that it is caused by a specific micro-organism, but the problem of the character of the diphtheritic process in the throat and the other changes the disease produces in the body can be solved only by a careful post-mortem I examination. This gives us information regarding changes in the heart and other organs which we could never derive from a study of the cause of the disease. I There is a great discrepancy between the number and percentage of autopsies in the 1 large European hospitals and those of the United States. In England, France and Cer- i , many, percentages of BOW to 9011, and over are the rule while in this country the V average figures for the largest hospitals probably run between IOZ, and 30'k. While fi it is true that three or four hospitals in the entire country can show percentages of 5-OCZ: ' to 70W,, they are the exceptions. Let us hope that as the public becomes educated in F' I regard to the importance of autopsies, the time may come when the next of kin will not g , only permit, but will insist on an autopsy being performed. v ' 'a .:'- -f-fl I 1 .422 gag :E-fs' f r , H -..f-v1'- Qx heb: Huis' CQ'-- ka ' 555 Page Twenty-Iwo

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T '92 - itrfif. - A . 1v'1S'ffwH fm ' 'W wr W1 Wa ei 5 1 Y Y ' Y 1 I 3 3 I I Y W 1 I . Matthew Steel, BS., NLS., Ph.D. Tl A fprofessor of Biological Chemistry A I Y F ' - .V .f 4, H' Page Twenty-four ,LV an H