silvia tuscano | 26/10/2022
Frank P. Young, a surgeon who embraced osteopathy
Frank P. Young
DOB unknown, Albion, Indiana, USA – D and POD unknown, MD, DO
Surgeon and teacher at the American School of Osteopathy, he was a prominent figure in osteopathy in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.
Frank P. Young was born and raised on a farm in the state of Indiana. In 1893, after high school, he was awarded a degree in Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a brilliant student and did his internship at the local hospital from August 1893 till September 1894. For a year he held the chair of histology and microscopy at Louisville Medical College, and in 1898 he went to New York City to attend a postgraduate course and deepen his notions in surgery.
He was a member of the Masonic order (The Osteopathic Physician 1907a) and of the Atlas Club, the first college “fraternity” aimed at welcoming excellent members and expanding to a national level. The Atlas Club was established in Kirksville in1898 due at the insistence of Bunting (Booth 1924).
In 1907 he left Kirksville and accepted the supervision of the new hospital of the School of Des Moines, besides lecturing surgery and anatomy and being a member of the editorial committee of the institute’s magazine (The Osteopathic Physician 1907a).
As a member of the Missouri legislative assembly, contributed to the approval of a law that regulated the assignment of cadavers for autopsy to the various schools. Dr. William Smith remembered how Young was admitted to the Anatomical State Board, where he was elected as treasurer and member of the board of directors, a result not to be taken for granted for an osteopath (The Journal of Osteopathy 1907).
Subsequently he moved to California, where he worked as chief surgeon at the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy. On the 8th November 1909 Dr Young carried out what is considered to be the first cesarean section executed by an osteopath (The Osteopathic Physician 1909).
Moreover, he took part in the teaching body of the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy and in 1912 founded the Pacific Medical College, an institute in which a DO could enroll to obtain the title of DM, a deviation not approved either by the AOA or by the other schools (Gevitz 2014).
Initially he was recruited as a lecturer in surgery and pathology at the Columbian School of Osteopathy of Marcus Ward from which he resigned in June 1900 for disagreements, transferring to the ASO where he resumed his teaching activity and also completed his training as a DO. In a brochure dated around 1904, Dr F. P. Young is addressed as Professor of surgery, objective diagnosis, practical anatomy, eye diseases and skin and venereal diseases (ATSU Museum)(6).
Dr. W.M. Laughlin defined him as an excellent teacher, of great experience, capable of entertaining the students during his lectures without ever losing sight of the osteopathic perspective (Laughlin 1907).
In 1904 the volume Surgery from an Osteopathic Standpoint was issued, a volume specifically focused on surgery as intended by the osteopathic science.
He published various articles in osteopathic magazines, some of which are listed further down at the paragraph titled “Scientific publications”.
In 1902 Young studied the clinical course of smallpox, describing it in a brief article in which affirmed that the role of osteopathy could have a prevention effect: the treatments would put the cells into the best conditions to fight the disease, and after the spread and the onset of the disease they would offer a symptomatic therapy (Young 1902). In 1904 described the clinical case of a woman with an ovarian cyst of considerable size on which surgery was performed (Young 1904).
Dr Young worked as a surgeon at the A.T. Still Surgical Sanitarium, and was part of the team of three doctors and two nurses who took service at the opening of the ASO Hospital, the new hospital inaugurated by the ASO on 25th May 1906. It was the first osteopathic hospital ever built: it was hosted in a three story brick building, especially built for this purpose, capable of hosting 50 to 75 patients (Walter 1992).
During his permanence in Kirksville he was head of the laboratory, where more than 250 cadavers were dissected in five years (The Osteopathic Physician 1907a).
He assiduously participated in the activities of the AOA, speaking at conferences and demonstrating clinical cases. An example of this is the speech he gave on diagnostic methods in 1905, during the conference of St. Louis, in which he highlighted the importance of palpation (Young 1905a).
During the Tri-State osteopathic conference an information campaign was launched to raise funds in favor of the ASO Hospital, to be partly allocated to the free treatment of people in need (The Osteopathic Physician, 1907b). On that occasion Dr Young had presented some clinical cases, whose account was subsequently published, accompanied by photographic documentation, in the Journal of Osteopathy (Young 1907b).
In Dr Young’s opinion osteopaths should have been able to obtain an illimited license to exercise medicine. For this reason they would have to acquire all the notions necessary to pass the state exam. In 1905 he pronounced himself in favor of the teaching of all the basic subjects, including surgery, with the only exception of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy (Young 1905b).
In the five years during which he had been chief of the anatomic laboratory of the ASO, he had dissected 267 cadavers and had tried to take into account the pathological conditions, the possible cause of death, the potential presence of osseous lesions and if these last ones could be linked to the pathology observed. He summarized his observations in a 1907 article, stating that osteopathic theory could find confirmation in the results of the dissection, supporting his observations with photographs (Young 1907a).
Young, F.P. Surgery from an Osteopathic Standpoint. Quincy, Illinois (USA): Volk, Jones & McMein Company, 1904.
By way of example:
- Young, F.P. “Treatment of Smallpox” The Journal of Osteopathy, April 1902:133.
- Young, F.P. “Laparotomy for the Removal of an Ovarian Cystoma” The Journal of Osteopathy, October 1904:17-19.
- Young F.P. “A Demonstration in Physical Diagnosis”. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, March 1905, v. 4, n.7 (1904-1905):257-260
- Young, F.P. “Fair Legislation” The Journal of Osteopathy, December 1905: 368-370.
- Young, F.P. “Tri-State Surgical Clinics “ The Journal of Osteopathy, July 1907: 207-210
Young, F, P. “Osteopathy Proved by Dissection ” The Journal of Osteopathy, August 1907, vol.14, n. 8:263-266
- ATSU Museum “Officers of American School of Osteopathy faculty list”, Accession number 1982.727, Museum of Osteopathic Medicine Catalogue Number 1982.727.01.20. https://momicoh.pastperfectonline.com/archive/8264CB10-789D-4942-87B9-763480831041
- Booth E (1924) History of Osteopathy and Twentieth-Century Medical Practice.. Cincinnati, OH: Caxton Press; 1924:549.
- Gevitz, N. (2014). The “doctor of osteopathy”: expanding the scope of practice. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 114(3), 207.
- Laughlin, W.R. “My Alma Mater” The Journal of Osteopathy, September 1907, vol. 14, n,9:313.
- The Journal of Osteopathy “Another Osteopathic Milestone”, The Journal of Osteopathy, August 1907, vol.14, n.8:260-62.
- The Osteopathic Physician 1907a “What Dr. Young Says of His Change”, The Osteopathic Physician, October 1907a, vol12, n.4:3-4.
- The Osteopathic Physician 1907b “Want to Give A.S.O. Hospital A Permanent Edownment” The Osteopathic Physician, May 1907:6.
- The Osteopathic Physician 1909 “Los Angeles Osteopath Performs Successful Caesarian Section”, The Osteopathic Physician, December 1909, vol XVI, n. 6:4.
- Walter, Georgia Warner. (1992) The First School of Osteopathic Medicine: A Chronicle. Printed by Thomas Jefferson University Press at Northeast Missouri State University, 1992 (published for A.T. Still University-©Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine – Centennial Celebration 1892-1992):59.
- Young, F.P. (1902) “Treatment of Smallpox” The Journal of Osteopathy, April 1902:133-136.
- Young, F.P. “Laparotomy for the Removal of an Ovarian Cystoma “ The Journal of Osteopathy, October 1904:17-19.
- Young F.P. (1905a) “A Demonstration in Physical Diagnosis”. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, March 1905, v. 4, n.7 (1904-1905):257-260.
- Young, F.P. (1905b) “Fair Legislation” The Journal of Osteopathy, December 1905: 368-370
- Young, F.P. (1907a) “Osteopathy Proved by Dissection ” The Journal of Osteopathy, August 1907a, vol.14, n. 8:263-266.
- Young, F.P. (1907b) “Tri-State Surgical Clinics “ The Journal of Osteopathy, July 1907: 207-210.
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