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    "label": "Memorandum, March 6, 1930",
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    "title": "Memorandum, March 6, 1930",
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    "seq": 4,
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    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "CANFIELD V. U. S. RADIUM CORP\nMEMORANDUM OF CONFERENCE WITH DR. RECTOR and\nDR. BROTHERS, this 6th day of March, 1930, supplementing\nprevious reports as to result of physical examination of\nMrs. Canfield on March 17, 1929.\nAs a result of the physical examination made of\nMrs. Canfield by these two doctors, they can find nothing\nfunctionally wrong with Mrs. Canfield. She had the full use\nof all her limbs and joints. She was apparently in good\nhealth. She was fair weight for her height and her age.\nShe had successfully borne three children. She was doing\nall her own housework except her washing. She did not have,\nso far as could be determined from physical examination,\nany anemic condition. She ate well and slept well. She did\ncomplain subjectively of pain in her back, some in her jaw,\nsome in her knees, but these alleged pains were purely sub-\njective and could not be proven on physical examination.\nThe doctors did find a number of bad teeth and\na recession of the gums. A number of the teeth were loose.\nKnowing that Mrs. Canfield had no dental treatment since\n1917, the condition of her gums and her teeth was due to\nlack of dental care and attention. There was nothing unusual\nabout this woman or the condition of her mouth. On the\ncontrary, she presented a picture which is presented by\nmany thousands of persons year after year who failed to take\ncare of their teeth. The pains which she complained of\nif she really has them, could very well be due to the poor\ncondition of her teeth and the infection of the gums, due to\nthe lack of care. So far as determining the cause, other\nthan lack of dental care, the doctors will say that there\nwas nothing of a distinctive feature which they could\nascertain from examination, and the examination was very\nthorough, lasting for two hours, that would differentiate\nthis case from any other case or that would lead them to\nthink or have the slightest idea that it was due to radium.\nThe doctors have such knowledge of radium as men of their\nprofession usually have. They have not specialized in\nradium treatments. They do know that men of their profession\nwho do specialize in the use of radium, give it to patients\norally, intraveinously and intramuscularly for the treatment\nof various diseases and it is believed that it has a bene-\nficial effect on many diseases such as arthritis, cancer,\nacute rheumatism, ansemia, etc.\nIf the doctors are asked the direct question\nas to whether or not they can or cannot ascribe the condition\nthey found to radium poisoning, they would say that prior\nto 1924, or to that date, that these cases came up, that\nno one heard of radium poisoning; that there is apparently\nat the present time no definite literature on the subject\nand that unless something can be shown to them differentiating\nthese cases from the ordinary case of bad teath, they could\nnot ascribe this to radium poisoning. Furthermore, there is\nno knowledge in the medical profession known at this time by\nmen who have sufficient care and treatment and follow up\na radium case, in which case a distinctive and diagnostic\ndifference between infection by radium poisoning or the\nordinary infection as we find it in this run of cases.\nSpeaking as a physician in active practice for\nmany years, I can say that there is no authentic medical\nliterature, the result of research work or actual practice,\nwhich proves radium as a distinctive exciting cause of\npathological changes in the skin, soft parts, bone, internal\norgans or the blood picture.\nIn the present state of our knowledge it is\ndifficult to decide when small variations from the normal\nblood count become significant. In the United States, over\nfifty grams of radium element is now in use for therapeutic\napplication and all are aware of the more extended use made\nof the X-rays following the development of the Coolidge Tube.\nThere should be a committee which would give such matters\ncareful study. An active joint committee representing the\nAmerican Radium Society, The American Roentgen Ray Society\nand the Radiological Society of North America, could make\na good start in this work and suggest necessary precautions\nas well as lines of study. Up until the present time there\nhas been no authoritative statement to guide physicians\nin making a diagnosis of radium poisoning as an exciting\ncause for the condition that we found in this plaintiff."
}