For a time the reports made by the Iowa doctor were of a glowing nature. Mr. —— was getting along nicely, and the improvement in his condition was nothing short of miraculous. Suddenly word came that there was a change for the worse, and the Chicago specialist was requested to go to Iowa and make an investigation. He did so. On arriving in the town nearest the patient’s home he first called upon the local physician and together they drove out to see Mr. ——. The latter was evidently fast approaching a collapse and the specialist was at a loss to account for the remarkable change. He was assured that his instructions had been closely adhered to, both the patient and the local doctor agreeing upon this point. Finally the specialist said:
“Doctor, let me see you administer the hypodermatic part of the treatment.”
The local physician took from his overcoat pocket a hypodermic syringe without case or other protection. This he stuck into the bottle of fluid which constituted the treatment, and was about to make the injection when the specialist shouted:
“Great heavens, doctor, don’t do that! Let me see that syringe a moment.”
Holding the syringe up to the light the specialist found it extremely dirty on the inside of the glass barrel, and the needle point covered with lint. Calling the local physician into an adjoining room he said:
“My God, Doctor, it’s a wonder your patient is not dead. You are poisoning him to death. How long is it since you sterilized this syringe?”
“Why, it was sterilized when I got it, wasn’t it?” replied the local M.D. innocently.
“Yes,” answered the specialist, “and my instructions were that it should be cleansed with alcohol before and after every injection, and sterilized in boiling water at least once a week. This has not been done.”
Then and there the visiting physician opened the eyes of his country brother as to the grave importance of utter and absolute cleanliness in all branches of practice, and especially in the administration of hypodermatic treatments.
For nearly ten weeks this doctor had not cleansed the syringe. During all this time he had unconsciously been injecting into the system of his patient the most virulent of poison in the form of the decomposed lymph which remained in the syringe barrel, as well as such foreign substances as accumulated on the unprotected needle of the syringe.