History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

236 History of Medical Practice in Illinoiscare. If albumin was found, no mention was made of restriction of sodiumjalap and sulfur wasbut a teaspoonful of equal parts of potash bitart,given once every three hours until the bowels acted freely, to be followedwith acetate of potash and digitalis. If the patient was anemic, tincture ofiron was recommended. From this it is seen that Dr. Whitten had begun toappreciate the value of prenatal care in toxemia; that he had selectedremedies which we could endorse today, and that even in rural areas thebeginnings of specialist care for pregnant women were becoming apparent.He pointed out that chloroform was the anesthesia most frequently used,but that ether, ethyl bromide and nitrous oxide gas were also administered."These agents," said Whitten, "should be given by a person familiar withtheir use(anesthetist) who can give his full attention to the patient" and hestrongly urged that anesthesia be stopped immediately on any appearanceof heart failure or suspension or irregularity of breathing. Anesthesia wascontraindicated in cardiac dilatation, fatty heart, diseases of the kidney,acute lung disease, if labor was complicated by vomiting, or when tendencyto hemorrhage had been observed in previous labors. It was felt thatpatients should not be brought under deep anesthesia except for operations.Dr. Whitten noted that "the recent deaths of women in labor wouldnot have occurred in all probability if the advice here given had been followedby modern medical men." O tempora; O mores! He further statedthat the application of forceps was much more common than previouslydue partly to a better knowledge of the anatomy, but that "in most casestheir use can be ascribed to a desire to save time for the physician whichlatter reason is not to be recommended." He felt that the teaching of oneprominent teacher who advocated the use of forceps in one-third of allcases was not only wrong but was responsible for much injury to mothersand fatal to many babies. He thought there would be a reaction fromsuch dangerous teaching, and there was. His management of the third stageof labor is excellent by our present standards. Here again was a countrydoctor studying the problems of obstetrics independently and criticizingthe teachings of an urban professor. Who is there to say that he was not aspecialist, and a good one at that?Again in 1893 Dr. O- B. Will presented another paper before the StateMedical Society, this time on catheterization of the fallopian tubes. Hehad performed this procedure repeatedly on one of his patients with a probewhich had a bulbous tip and which was sufficiently malleable to be bent toconform to the shape of the interior of the fundus. This was insertedthrough the cervix. By manipulation at the cornua of the uterus he wasable to catheterize the tube without discomfort to the patient either duringor after the manipulation. He claimed to have treated discharges fromthe uterus by this method, injecting hydrogen peroxide into the tube when