Capsules

P:There are 97,529 dentists in the U.S., or one for every 1,667 persons, the American Dental Association reported. Biggest trouble: the supply does not fill the right cavities. There is only one dentist for every 3,076 residents in the Southeast, one for every 2,962 in the Southwest, whereas New York has one for 1,127.

P:A tight-fitting pressure suit made of elastic cotton-rayon knit material has been developed at Duke University for victims of low blood pressure who are in danger of keeling over when they get out of bed or stand up. It keeps blood from pooling in the abdomen and legs.

P:The shortage of young doctors in the U.S. is so acute that Congress should set up a commission to probe "all phases of medical education," Dr. Dominick F. Maurillo of Brooklyn told the New York State Medical Society. Main symptoms of the shortage: hospitals are scouring Europe and Asia to fill staff gaps left by a deficit of 7,000 interns.

P:When John S. Keefe, 27, was on the operating table at the Somerville (Mass.) Hospital last May for an emergency appendectomy, surgeons found his appendix all right, but there was a tumor in his right kidney, so they removed the kidney. Only afterward did they learn that Keefe had never had a left kidney; despite artificial-kidney aid and a wistfully hopeful transplant, he died. Now his widow, who gave birth to their son after her husband's death, is suing Dr. John A. Fraser and Dr. G. Stanley Miles for $250,000.

P:The Public Health Service collected the last of 20,000 questionnaires in a massive study to find out what is wrong with U.S. hospitals. Sample gripes that patients and personnel in 55 hospitals were asked to check: "Thermometer left in too long"; "Bedpan was handled too noisily"; "Nurse was unfriendly." It will take at least three months to tabulate the vote on favorite gripes.

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