5. On May 19, the Wm. S. Merrell Co. wrote Dr. Freeman that he was certainly mistaken in regard to the use of any “report signed by Mr. Bauman.” Dr. Freeman then sent to the company the letter he had received from the physician who had mistaken Broeman’s letter for an official letter by Bauman. Although it would seem that this letter and Commissioner Freeman’s protest should have made plain to the Wm. S. Merrell Co., the fact that the letter, incorrectly referred to as Mr. Bauman’s, was in reality Dr. Broeman’s, the company remained silent regarding its use of the Broeman letter and, on May 22, merely reiterated that there had been “no letter circulated by this company containing a testimonial of your Mr. Bauman.” On May 28 (six days later) the Merrell company sent to its Proteogen detail men another general letter, “for personal use of agents,” in which it again called their attention to the “photographic copy mounted on linen” of Dr. Broeman’s letter. This communication to the detail men also declared that it “has been suggested that the further use of Dr. Broeman’s letter might antagonize the State Department of Health” and, therefore the detail men were told to “discontinue using the photographic copy in question” and to return the photographs to the head office.
Reproduction (reduced) of one of the photographic copies sent out by the Wm. S. Merrell Co. to its Proteogen detail men to be shown to physicians. While the letter is a private one, it was written (without authority) on official stationery. Some physicians were misled into thinking it was an official endorsement of Proteogens. The Merrell concern denied any intention to mislead and claimed that it was interested only in bringing to the attention of physicians the contents of the letter!
Here, briefly are the bald facts in the case. The essential point at issue is whether these photographic copies of Dr. Broeman’s letter would or would not be likely—whether or not they were so intended—to mislead physicians into believing that the endorsement was an official one by the State Board of Health rather than an individual one. One can but wonder why, if, as the Merrell company so vehemently asserts, there was no intention of misleading physicians on this point, the company should have gone to the trouble and expense of photographing the entire letter, including the letterhead, rather than making typewritten or mimeographed copies of the contents of the letter.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 27, 1919.)
Dr. Broeman’s Final Report on Proteogens
To the Editor:—In the September 27 issue of The Journal my name was mentioned in connection with the Merrell Chemical Company’s “Proteogens” in the treatment of syphilis. The Merrell Chemical Company promised not to use my name at any time in connection with their “Proteogens” injection and they know that the use of my name has been distinctly against my wishes. I feel that in justice to myself, as well as the public, I should report the result of my experiments with their “Proteogens” in private practice.
In explanation I might say that I began the use of their “Proteogens” in April, 1918, and I feel that I now have enough data to give a complete report. I might say that all my results have been practically nil; particularly is this true in my cases of syphilis, which all had a four plus Wassermann reaction when I discontinued using this form of treatment.
Very truly yours,
C. J. Broeman, M.D., Cincinnati.