Editorial June 22, 1907 Issue

A SIGNIFICANT PROTEST

John B. Willis

It is one of the stock claims of those who have tried to secure repressive legislation respecting the practice of Christian Science, that they are impelled by a sincere interest in the welfare of the people, that their motive is unselfish, and that they are seeking to right a wrong which, strange to say, the people themselves have not voiced nor even discovered. While it can but seem remarkable that this perception and interest should be exclusively confined to practising physicians, whose material interests are so plainly affected by any movement which would tend to lessen the dependence of the public upon their services, this contention is ever pressed before legislative bodies; hence special interest attaches to the warning being given by some physicians to-day, that the public welfare is imperiled at the hands of the medical profession itself.

In a recent issue of The Independent Review (London, England) there is an article by James A. Rigby, M. D. (Consulting Physician to the Preston and County of Lancaster Victoria Royal Infirmary), in which emphasis is laid upon the hazard to society involved in committing "the power of life and death" to those who are ready to enlarge their experience by advising "illegitimate and indefensible exploratory operations," while the ignorant, the careless, and the venturesome are not in any way held responsible for their acts. After presenting a startling array of facts, with which the writer states he is personally familiar, he declares that "there is nothing exaggerated, nothing overstated," they are findings "which may be verified any day in any part of the country, and it is now time they should receive the careful and deliberate attention of the State. In the case of a naval officer losing his ship, even though no loss of life is involved, he is court-martialed, and a searching investigation is instituted to decide whether or not he is in any way culpable ... but in the case of the surgeon no such inquiry, or investigation is made, and he may proceed in his happy-go-lucky way from one unsuccessful operation to another, secure in the consciousness that no inquiry into his conduct will be instituted, and that his professional course will not be in any way impugned"!

In closing his discussion of the situation the doctor says: "The present position of operating surgery has founded what is in fact a new tribunal, and one of great and farreaching power, with very little if any responsibility, and that in the interests of the people at large it is quite time it should be seriously inquired into, and, if it is found necessary, its power should be limited and its responsibility vastly increased by bringing each individual case operated upon, where a fatal termination ensues, under the notice and investigation of an authorized court of inquiry."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

A SIGNIFICANT PROTEST

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access