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A DEBT TO ALEXIS: THE BEAUMONT‐ST MARTIN STORY
Author(s) -
Myers N. A.,
Smith E. Durham
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1997.tb02033.x
Subject(s) - medicine , debt , classics , general surgery , environmental ethics , history , philosophy , finance , economics
This paper is based on the book Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion , originally published in 1833. The book held in the Cowlishaw Collection of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is the Edinburgh edition of 1838, which contains a preface by Andrew Combe, MD. The paper explores several aspects of the BeaumontSt Martin story, from St Martin's original injury and the primary care undertaken by Dr William Beaumont, whose numerous studies of the actions and reactions of the stomach were made possible because St Martin was left with a permanent gastric fistula. While the debt we owe to Beaumont is often acknowledged, patients are not mere machines and surgeons must recognize that surgery also owes a debt to its patients; in this case, to Alexis St Martin for what he permitted by way of experiment.