The Longevity and Mortality of American Physicians, 1938-1942

The centenary of the American Medical Association is a good occasion to review the longevity and mortality of physicians. It is valuable to learn what the men and women of the profession, dedicated to protect the health of others, have accomplished in protecting themselves. Such information is of importance for many reasons. It bears directly on the problem of replacement in the profession. From the economic point of view, the untimely death of physicians represents a material waste because of the large investment of time and money required to enter the field of medicine. Knowledge of the causes of death of physicians may well point the way to effective preventive measures. The present study is based on the records of active and retired living physicians and on their deaths during the five year period 1938 through 1942 on file with the American Medical Association.1At the middate of this