The Osteopathic Dilemma: Separate or Same?

Abstract

To the Editor.— The recent article by Dr Gevitz 1 on sectarian medicine prompts these thoughts from a 1976 graduate of the Philadelphia College of (so-called) Osteopathic Medicine. Devotion to the supposed philosophic advantages of osteopathic medicine correlated inversely with academic achievement in my class. This relationship was a very strong and obvious one. Of those graduating in the top quintile of the class, a large percentage chose allopathic postgraduate training programs. Institutions closely integrated into the political structure of organized osteopathy were more typically the hospitals providing internships to those who graduated in the lowest class rankings. Although the inference is clear that a separate osteopathic medical community can be a refuge for those who cannot compete in the larger orthodox medical community, many Doctors of Osteopathy who have chosen to remain within the osteopathic fold have become fine physicians. Osteopathic principles did not permeate our curriculum. We struggled