Title: War Surgery and Medicine

Author: Stout, T. Duncan M.

Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1954, Wellington

Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

This text is the subject of: ‘Something of Them Is Here Recorded’: Official History in New Zealand

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Wearing of Trusses

The Regional Deputies in 1943 pointed out that very few men with hernia wore trusses, no matter what their occupation, and in spite of this they seemed to have no disability. This finding has been confirmed by Dr D. Macdonald Wilson, supervisor of medical treatments, War Pensions Department. In a survey of the 562 cases coming before War Pensions Boards up to 1952, he found that there were 232 men with unrelieved hernia, but only 18 of them stated that they wore a truss. The Department was prepared to supply trusses, but the only requests came from First World War pensioners who had worn them for twenty to thirty years, dating back to the time when doctors regularly recommended a truss if operation was not undertaken.