The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Winford H. Smith, M.D., DirectorWarfield T. Longcope, M.D.
Physician-in-chiefDean M. Lewis, M.D.
Surgeon-in-chiefJ. Whitridge Williams, M.D.
Obstetrician-in-chiefAdolph Meyer, M.D.
Psyciatrist-in-chiefWilliam G. MacCallum, M.D.
Pathologist William H. Wilmer, M.D.
Ophthalmologist-in chiefEdwards A. Park, M.D.
Pediatrician-in-chiefBaltimore, Maryland,
April 10, 1928.Miss Abby H. Turner,
The Barbizon
140 E. 63rd Street
New York, New York.My dear Miss Turner:
I wrote you a note yesterday which is probably crossing yours of the 8th which has just greeted me on my return to Baltimore this morning.
The trouble with your spine and its bony connections has worried me a great deal ever since I first heard of it. It may be a simple thing as you and Dr. Goldthwaite suspect it is. On the other hand it may not be. The fact that it has gone on now for almost two years without any conspicuous improvement would argue that it is about time to take the thing seriously. I realize that Johns Hopkins has the reputation in the medical world of being extremely conceited; in some respects we have reason to be conceited, and in other respects we have not. About all I have learned in medicine is to pick out a good doctor. In the medical world at large they seem to be as thick as fleas on an alley pup; this is particularly true in surgery and orthopedics. I realize that Goldthwaite of Boston is considered in New England the last word in orthopedics. There is hardly a week when we do not pick up his mistakes. Practically speaking he belongs to the near-as-silk variety in orthopedics. I would never consult him about any bone condition of my own or that of any patient.
As to the man in New York who "operates and makes things smooth" I would never trust myself to sit in his ante-room for fear he might seize me in a moment when I was preoccupied and drag me to the operating room to prove some theory to which his life is dedicated. The only orthopedist in this country whom I would send my patient to is Dr. Geroge [sic] Bennett of our own hospital and medical school. You ust remember that I was for four years under the former Professor of Orthopedics at the Harvard Medical School, and that I was for six months a victim of the wisdom of a great orthopedic surgeon in New York City who claims that he sees six thousand cases a year. He diagnosed me a sacro-iliac condition, proved it with an x-ray plate and put upon my long-suffering frame the most damnable corset that the Spensers ever contrived. After wearing the thing for three months I developed a pressure neuritis in my left leg so that I had to drag my foot. Dr. Bennett discovered an exostosis of the fifth lumbar vertebra was pressing on a sciatic root. He told me that I would always have it, that I should never let anybody operate on me, and that I could do a days work physically and mentally as long as I made up my mind to wear a good surgical corset for the rest of my life. As you know I have worn one sice [sic] January 1914, and as long as I wear it I am perfectly comfortable. I can play tennis and walked six miles a day this summer. If I take it off for an hour I am again in pain.
Now I do not pretend to diagnose your case or to compare it with my own, but I do suspect that the chances are very great that your best help from medicine will come from making up your mind permanently to wear as comfortable a surgical corset as can be made for you for the rest of your life. Riveting of bone in a young person is sometimes successful; in middle life it is a frank experiment.
If you would like to see Dr. Bennett and have his opinion you know that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see that you get in contact with him. The first day that he sees you he will take an x-ray of your back; and the following day the plate can be read. Supposing he could see you on some Saturday morning you could have the plate read on Sunday and his opinion on the same day I have no doubt. Should he order a correct brace for you it will take at least two days and probably three days to make it.
Please rememeber that I am yours to command at any time with regard to this matter.
Very sincerely yours,
Esther L. Richards.ELR:ER