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TG Gmdfl G Y I'. GD H1
A   C1 4 B D R k·
CHICAGO, Oct. 9 (IP)-The new *—j"‘j ’
head of the American College of `
Surgeons said tonight the college . ‘
must end fee splitting, ghost sur- ,—
gery and the charging of exorbit- . I ·»
ant fees. ' i
Dr. Fred W. Rankin, of Lexing- V _
ton, Ky., spoke after a ceremony, . Z ?
at which he was installed as presi-
dent of the college and 1,100 new
fellows were inducted, l , , I
"Let us admit," Dr. Rankin said, if--
"that there are still men in our V
profession—fortunate1y their num-
ber is sma1l—who practice divi- V.
sion of fees, who do ghost surgery, - ,
who perform unnecessary opera-
tions, and who charge exorbitant V
tees for their services." _ _ _ .
The responsibility of the Col- .
lege of Surgeons, he said, is "to ” ,_
make every effort to end these . _`
practices" which have been con-
demned by the American Medical · .
Association and by numberous . ·
state medical groups. ~ ‘°
Dr. Rankin said that "in many `
respects surgeons carry the heav- ’ , `
iest responsibilities of all physi- ~ ·
cialis, if only because of the harm ‘ _
they can do." ,
,For that reason, he said, and _
because the field of medical __,-
knowledge is too broad for any _  
one man to master it, specializa- . ‘
tion is necessary. _
"I am convinced," Dr. Rankin · ·
said, "that we do not have too _ , -
many adequately trained special- ‘
ists, and I am equally convinced
that surgery is too often done by — · _ .
men of too little training and _  
experience.
"This problem will not be
solved by attempts to delineate . _
the boundaries between minor and —  
major surgery. Minor surgery,
when done by an unskilled hand, ’ A
is major surgery.” ° _ .
Dr. Rankin said that high ’ » ~
ethical standards, "honesty, integ- · _
rity and the stoutness of character »
to which we give the old-fash- ; ,
ioned name of uprigh»tness," are ‘
"still the spiritual values which — —
men should live by."
Yet, he said, "there are some in V -
our midst who do not recognize
their .obligations or who, recog- V .
nizing them, lack the courage to .   `
live by them. They fall into the V -
twin- pitfalls of avarice and ill- '
gotten gains." , -
Dr. Rankin said that during the V
past ye.  {attempts have actually
been m   in certain medical ‘ .
organiza? ’ to discipline the _re- :
gents; of t IS college who simply i '
told fthe truth about these invidi- ‘ -
ous practices in press conferences. : _
These attempts did not succeed. I ` . V
doubt that such attempts will ever Y , ·
l succeed. V :
“But that the issue should ever I g—·
have been raised at all leaves one . ‘
wondering? < .
HE posed the question, ,"Are ` —
some, of our professional short- j V
comirtgs but p-art of an evolution- 5 ¢ · __
ary-cycle? -
"For my own part, I refuse to { ‘
believe it. The goal of our pro- I
fession is still service."