Interracial Clinic
In Georgia's Macon County , the contrast between theunchanged Old South and the ever-changing New South is evidenteverywhere. Negro men and women study at famed Tuskegee Institute notfar from where a few practitioners of voodoo still do a livelybusiness. Last week Tuskegee Institute presented a scene that wasunknown in the Old South and is still unfamiliar in the new. Fourhundred Negro and white doctors from all over the U.S. met on thecampus for the 43rd annual meeting of the John A. Andrew ClinicalSociety.* Ignoring segregation, they lived in the same guest houses,ate at the same tables.
When Dr. Booker T. Washington conceived the clinic in 1912 for "thestudy of morbid conditions" among the South's needy, Southern Negroeshad few doctors, hardly any hospitals. But as such "morbid conditions"began to recede, the clinic changed from a kind of emergency school foroverworked, ill-equipped doctors to an increasingly learned seminar, isnow the country's biggest, most active interracial clinic . White doctors, once only a handful at Andrewmeetings, have been attending in increasing numbers, now make up morethan a third of the delegates. Most of last week's meeting was devotedto abstruse professional papers, but delegates also sounded some highlypractical notes:
¶ Cancer Specialist Dr. George Crile Jr. of Clevelandcharged that some doctors are more concerned with fighting cancer thanwith helping cancer victims, warned that "radical" surgery may bekilling more patients than it saves. He advocated a "little philosophyof fatalism" in cancer treatment.
¶ Chicago's Dr. Kenneth B. Babcock warned about the necessity ofkeeping accurate hospital records, cited the case of a 23-year-oldwoman who was sterilized at her own request. Only reason given in therecords: "Moving to Wyoming."
¶ Dr. Samuel A. Levine of Harvard Medical School told the convention that relatively few patients with heart disease should have to be sent away from home for expensive diagnosis. In 90% of the cases, a family doctor with proper training should be able to make a diagnosis.
* Named for Governor Andrew of Massachusetts , adetermined foe of slavery.
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