Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1877-07-05

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DOCTOR The feeble, sick, distrustful
patient wants everything but doubt from
his attendant. NV lamented father
and trust | do not offend the propriety
Of the occasion when say have never
seen any man who carried more reas-
suring atmosphere Of confidence into a
sick room than did he-told me, after a
half century ofintelligent medical o.
servation, that the eject on thdpasient
was, in his judgment, due quite|as much
to the manner IN which the medicine
was administered as to the drug itself.
And he was wont to say in his lecture
room at Dartmouth, Gentlemen, what
ever else you give your patients, give
them no doubts. What a sick man
wishes to hear from his physician is, %,
King, live forever" Nothing is more
painful to the medical man than TO be
called to attend an absolutely incurable
disease, and yet some ofhis noblest work
Is done in just this class of cases. 1t is
discouraging to feel that the skeleton
hand is ever just in advance Of our own,
that the unequal warfare that We wage
can terminate only in defeat; and vet
the physician, like the great soldier,
sometimes manifests far greater moral
grandeur in defeat than in victory
"Melior in tenebris." Byjudicious care
and tenderness, by an apparent il not
real interest in the disease, by pallia-
ting suffering, we may at least smooth the
road to the dark kriver--comforting patient
and friend alike-and at the last NAV
give peaceful exit from the scenes OF
this life. In cases of grave disease it is
natural for friends to desire to avail
themselves OF all the medical skill with
in reach. The judicious physician will
always assent 10 consultation when
proposed, and will thus gracefully show
Difference to the anxiety OF the family.
And yet If the attendant is intelligent
and brings his best powers to the case,
the patient is likely to get better treat
ment by holding him to a personal ac-
count; bility than by dividing the respon-
>iblii'y in consultation. DR.. Holmes
says that his idea OF good patient is
"a man who, having selected doctor,
sticks to him till he dies" Now
should define wise patient to be one
who. having selected an intellige mt
physician. holds him personally respon-
sible for his life. Every contentious
man feeling this grave responsibility
resting on him will certainly bring his
best powers to bear in treating the case,
and II he feels it necessary will ask for
a consultation without waiting for sug-
gestions. Unless then the case is one
Of great gravity and doubt, the one-man
power is safest. 1t will be the duty OF
the physician to study carefully the
natural history Of the families he at
tends-that by being familiar with dio-
syncracy he may the more intelligently
treat their diseases. The young phys
ician frequently fails to render the best
service because ne lacks that knowl-
edge of family peculiarly that the old
doctor had acquired. He should strive
in every way to establish the most i'm
p!icrt trust and confidence between his
patient and himself inviting absolutely
unreServed atoms. A man
may deceive his clergyman or his wife
without physical injury, but if he de-
ceives his doctor he Is fool. Medi-
cine is liberal profession, and not a
trade. and 80 il is di>reputable for the
/ physician To advertise himself like a
huck>ter. TO announce that he will
treat the poor gratis, to publish his re-.
markable cases IN the newspapers, TO
boast OF his cures in the market-place.
/ To publish certificates from demented
! clergymen-these are the methods of
J L. a,,A kar iNtx Il
! happens that some one of our number
is fortunate enough TO discover a new
/ remedy or devise new instrument or
some form ot apparatus which may re-
lIeve human suffering. Remembering
that his Is noble profession, and not
trade, he does no protect himself bv
letterS-patent, but publishes it to the
profession. and gives it freely for the
benefit OF suffering humanity. am
! proud to belong TO profession where
such rule obtains. Such gifts to man
kind are like the quality Of mercy.
|; b!esScth him that gives and him that takes.
A medical student once consulted nv
valued friend and instructor DR.. AIonzo
Clark. who refused any compensation
on the ground that dog doesu I eat dog. :"
But, said the young man, Il am not
a doctor; am only a student, and not
entitled TO this courtesy.' well.
then, rejoined Professor Clark. dog
doesn't eat puppy" and still refused a
Tree. Ii Is natural when a member OF
. physicians family Is sick that he
should desire the advice of profe ssion-
al brother. Ii the case is grave the
very personal anxiety that he feels will
disturb his professional equipoise and
initiate against correct judgment.
and it Is generally accepted doctrine
that physician should never at;emp,
to treat himself. 1t Is said that when
lawyer pleads his own cause in cour,
he has tool for a client, and N sure
OF the doctor who attempts TO treat his
own case, that it Is doubtly true that he
has fool for patient. The trouble is
that his subjective sensations will en-
ureiy pervert hiSjudgement and pre-
vent hun from appreciating the proper
{ objective symptoms. In all such in
stances II is only the part Of proper
courtesy to decline to accept a fee
+ Still, II the medical attendant Is Obliged
TO go any considerable distance, and the
party visited IS in easy circumstances.
there IS no improperly in bis accepting
gratuIty. In such instances. haxev.
er, 1t Is more graceful to leave the mat