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Albert E. Cowdrey, PhD
Washington, DC

JAMA. 1991;265(5):596-597.

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In Reply. —

Dr Hall's charge of physician bashing will be recognized as absurd by all readers of The Medics' War, whether they are physicians or laypersons. The theme of the book is that the army's need to attract physicians in the aftermath of World War II led the service to emphasize clinical training and specialization and, at the same time, to neglect field training for its medical officers.

The result was a service of superb professional competence combined, sometimes tragically, with a lack of military knowledge and experience among the junior officers. On the very page denounced by Dr Hall, I say: "Though casualties exceeded all predictions, hospital death rates were the lowest in the history of warfare. At a time when the draft had not yet come to solve the problem of procuring doctors, this accomplishment belonged to the Medical Service almost alone, to its cadre of experienced . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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