The Mayo Clinic by David Blistein & Ken Burns

Author:David Blistein & Ken Burns [Blistein, David & Burns, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

A Medical Democracy

My brother and I had paid for our homes. Our clinic was on its feet. Patients kept coming. Our theories seemed to be working out. Money began to pile up. To us it seemed to be more money than any two men had any right to have. That money seemed, somehow, like holy money to us….[It] had to go back into the service of the humanity that had paid it to us.

—DR. WILL MAYO

After the United States entered the Great War in 1917, a Mayo Unit was set up in France near the Belgian border, where they cared for more than 7,000 soldiers. Those left behind in Rochester struggled under the increased workload. Things got worse when the Spanish influenza broke out in the fall of 1918. It ultimately killed millions more than the World War.

Dr. Charlie developed a serious case of pneumonia and Dr. Will had jaundice so severe that he suspected it was liver cancer. Both survived, but the experiences made them even more aware of the need to prepare for a time when they could no longer lead the Clinic.

On October 8, 1919, having set aside enough to support their families, Dr. Will, Dr. Charlie, and their wives transferred a significant portion of their personal savings, along with all Mayo Clinic assets and future earnings, to a trust called the Mayo Properties Association. They further stipulated that from then on, all proceeds beyond operating expenses would go to education, research, and patient care.

The Clinic would be run by a Board of Governors, composed almost entirely of Mayo doctors.

“We have in this way,” Dr. Will said, “established a medical democracy.”

The Mayos also insisted that they, their partners, and all future Mayo physicians would be on salary and would not profit personally from the proceeds of the practice.

By 1920, only a quarter of the medical staff at Mayo Clinic were surgeons. The rest were physicians and scientists who not only examined and diagnosed patients, but also researched the underlying causes of disease in order to improve surgical outcomes and develop nonsurgical treatments. It was the rapidly growing field of internal medicine—and Mayo Clinic was at the forefront:

• Henry Plummer and Walter Boothby’s discovery in 1923 of how to treat enlarged thyroid glands with iodine before surgery greatly reduced mortality rates.

• Dr. Albert Broders made a major contribution to cancer diagnosis by developing a technique for grading tumors—based on how likely the mutated cells were to spread.

• In 1922, Dr. Russell Wilder and four colleagues conducted one of the earliest clinical trials of insulin. Within a year, more than 20,000 diabetic patients in the United States were being treated successfully.

By the mid-1920s, more than 60,000 patients were arriving at Mayo Clinic every year. In response, Saint Marys built an impressive new surgical pavilion. At the same time, local businessman John Kahler constructed several innovative hotel-hospitals that could accommodate the massive influx of patients and their families. Eventually, Kahler’s health-care facilities would evolve into a new nonprofit hospital called Rochester Methodist.

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