Elizabeth Kenny - Controversy

Controversy

Kenny's success was controversial; many Australian doctors (and the British Medical Association) questioned her results and methodology. Dr. Raphael Cilento, who was in charge of the QHD evaluation, wrote a report that was mainly critical, but somewhat complimentary. Sister Kenny replied publicly, fiercely taking Dr. Cilento to task for his criticisms (unusual from a self-taught bush nurse at that time in Australia). This response caused a contentious relationship among Kenny, Dr. Cilento, the BMA and the Australian Medical Association (AMA). During her stay in the United States, Kenny faced many sceptical doctors and needed to get the American Medical Association's support for her method. The AMA director at that time saw her as an "ignorant quack seeking money for her own gain". Some doctors found their initial professional scepticism groundless when they saw the effects Kenny's method had on her patients (both children and adults). Kenny was the subject of American magazine articles; however, Victor Cohn (who wrote the first detailed biography of her life and work) noted that her pursuit of publicity led journalists to tire of her campaign. During her first year in Minneapolis, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) paid her personal expenses, financing and arranging trials of her work; that support ceased, however, after a series of disagreements. Kenny was a determined and outspoken woman, which irritated the NFIP director (and many doctors).