Report of the trial, Cooper versus Wakley, for libel / from the notes of W.B. Gurney ; with remarks on the evidence, by Bransby B. Cooper.
- Bransby Blake Cooper
- Date:
- 1829
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the trial, Cooper versus Wakley, for libel / from the notes of W.B. Gurney ; with remarks on the evidence, by Bransby B. Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![cause; whether he has been right or wrong upon that subject, or any other, is not materia], we are here to enquire as to his conduct upon the present oc- casion, as to the accuracy of his representation, that this operation was performed in an unskilful and unsurgeon-like manner. The next witness is Mr. Benjamin Travers. He says, he is a surgeon at St. Thomas's, and has practised for twenty years; he has heard the evidence given by Mr. Callaway and Mr. Key, respecting Mr. Cooper and the opera- tion in question; and he has heard of no circumstance that would in his mind tend to impeach the skill of the operator; he thinks the operator is the best judge of what instruments to use; he agrees that the length of time is not alone a criterion of the surgeon's skill. He says he has known the Plaintiff for many years, since he entered the profession, and he considers him an ingenious and intelligent surgeon, and fit for the situation *of surgeon of Guy's Hospital; difficulties sometimes occur, that baffle the most skilful ope- rator; I consider this operation to have been one of those. I imagine the dis- tance between the tuberosity of the os-ischium and base of the prostate to be three inches. I do not feel the materiality of that, if any considerable violence had been used in the introduction of the forceps, so as to be injurious to the patient, it would have been discoverable afterwards; then he says, HI have performed the operation often in difficult cases, and I have called for different instruments to assist me, the scoop, and the straight and bent forceps, and I have operated for the stone in two cases where no stone was found, though I am convinced there were stones, and an able surgeon met with the same unfortunate circumstance three times, but upon the third operation a small stone escaped, which was found to be the lightest of human calculi, and one which, from the smallness of it, would escape with the gush of urine. He says, he has seen the Plaintiff perform three or four operations; and he has seen him operate for subclavian aneurism, and do it exceedingly well; the tying up that artery, he thinks, is a most difficult operation. He says, I have been engaged in similar operations, and I think no one can judge of the propriety of the time but the operator. Mr. Green, the next witness, says, he is one of the surgeons at St. Tho- mas's Hospital, and has been so between six and eight years; he has performed operations for the stone many times, and has generally succeeded; he has known the Plaintiff many years. «I saw him perform one capital operation, that was, the tying the external iliac artery ; it is much similar to putting on the ligature for the subclavian, and I must say that the operation I witnessed was most admirably performed; it is one of the most difficult operations in surgery. From my general knowledge of Mr. Cooper, and his fitness for the situation he holds, I consider him perfectly competent; from Mr. Callaway's account I could draw no inference whatever to the pre- judice of the operator's skill; from the situation of the stone I consider it to be a case of difficulty, and in my judgment the instruments employed were such as a skilful operator might find it necessary to employ. The length of time consumed in the operation, does not present any objection to the ope- rator's skill; I think the most skilful operator might probably have occupied](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22281708_0188.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
