Capsules

P: Celebrating his 60th year as a practicing physician, Dr. Frank Wiedemann, 81, of Terre Haute, Ind., canceled all debts owed him by his patients, explained: "There are many doctors who are too mercenary. I like to think of medicine as a humanitarian vocation . . ." P:Patients being treated with drugs for hypertension should take their own blood-pressure readings at home for comparison with those taken in the doctor's office. So says Dr. Edward Freis of Georgetown University Hospital. In treating 32 hypertension cases, he found office readings consistently higher than those taken at home. Had the patient's office readings alone been considered, an overdose of drugs would have been administered. Main reason for lower blood pressure at home: less fear and apprehension. P:According to an American Dental Association survey, public demand for dental care has nearly doubled in one generation. In 1929 less than one-fourth of the nation's population (30 million) had their teeth fixed; in 1952 more than 42%--some 65 million persons--sought dental care.

P: Reserpine, a new drug derived from the root of India's Rauwolfia serpentina plant, which, like chlorpromazine calms disturbed mental patients, is now on trial in many U.S. mental hospitals. Reserpine, which has virtually no harmful side effects, has reduced the need for brain operations and electric-shock therapy.

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