Fighting Doctors

Some 1,600 U.S. Army & Navy doctors, many back from the global war, gathered last week at the convention of the Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S., in Manhattan. They heard over 100 papers on the latest practice in tropical medicine, wound surgery, venereal disease, etc. Highlights:

P: Penicillin has become standard treatment for both syphilis and gonorrhea in the Army & Navy. In spite of a recent rise in venereal disease (mostly gonorrhea acquired in Europe), penicillin and other drugs have cut the time lost from venereal disease from 1,280 man-days per 1,000 men in 1940 to 200 at present. The average soldier with venereal disease now loses only a week from duty. One officer asked whether it would not be more economical to cut down prophylaxis and lectures, simply cure cases. The answer: no. P: The Army's Reconditioning Program (TIME, Nov. 15, 1943) now cares for 1,000 men, fits 12,000 for duty every week. Dr. George Deaver of New York's Institute for the Crippled and Disabled said that for those who are crippled, ordinary body-building is not enough. A crippled man should develop the specific muscles he will need (e.g., a man who must use crutches should do pushups) and, if possible, should master 37 essentials (e.g., brushing teeth, traveling alone, cleaning nails) for taking care of himself.

P: Malaria discipline and DDT (TIME, March 6), have cut the incidence of malaria 75%. The rate is around 150 per 1,000 men per year overseas, a new low--so low in the continental U.S. that it does not show on the chart. "New agents," plus insecticides and repellents, might eliminate malaria, at least in the Western Hemisphere.

P: Colonel William Claire Menninger, famed psychiatrist (not to be confused with his brother, Karl Augustus Menninger, still holding the fort at the brothers' Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kans.), warned Army doctors never to lose patience with soldiers with imaginary ills--most of them need psychiatric care. An Army doctor who says "The bastard isn't going to get away with that" may be merely venting his own resentment at the deprivations he suffers from being in military service. Doctors, Colonel Menninger pointed out, make more financial sacrifice on joining up than any other group.

P:Stretcher equipment has been installed in all new cargo planes--180,000 such beds are available.

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