Scandal, Continued

Developments in the medical fraud expose that has been convulsing Missouri and Connecticut: P: George M. Sutcliffe, a former news photographer who bought a high school certificate and an M. D. degree at the St. Lords College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a license to practice in Connecticut from the Eclectic Medical Examining Board of that state, was being sought for arrest for manslaughter. He had previously confessed his story to Governor Templeton and other Connecticut officials. Sutcliffe bought a practice on installments in Unionville, Conn. He was responsible for the death by etherization of Albert C. Hoody, mechanic, who was brought to him for emergency treatment when his finger was crushed in a stamping machine. Sutcliffe crudely amputated the finger, instructing a friend of Hoody's to anesthetize him by pouring three cans of ether on a gauze mask. Hoody died from the fumes. No autopsies were performed on any of Setcliffe's cases. He signed seven death certificates during his ten months of practice, the causes ranging from bronchitis to brain tumor.

P: Sutcliffe, who was for a time secretary to " Dean " Waldo Briggs, of the St. Louis diploma mill, revealed how students were turned out after attending a half dozen classes, with records falsified to show four years of medical instruction. Diplomas were issued wholesale at $250 up. Classes of " dumb-bell " graduates were crammed through the state board examinations in Colorado and Connecticut at so much a head.

P: Several other Connecticut practitioners under suspicion were subpoenaed by the Grand Jury, but were usually " away on hunting trips." P: Graduates of the St. Louis, Kansas City and other discredited institutions were found or charged to be practicing in Rhode Island, New York and elsewhere. State and city health officers everywhere took steps to check up the credentials of doctors within their jurisdictions.

P: The National Eclectic Medical Association, through its Secretary, Dr. William P. Best, of Indianapolis, wrote to Governor Templeton repudiating the Kansas City school and the exposed Connecticut Eclectics, and commending the Executive for his cleanup. The Association advocated single medical examining boards and strict educational requirements.