Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-08
THE DOCTORS AND THE Cops

THE do oTORs AND THE CODE
There 10 war among the New York
doctors over their code Of ethioa.
The older practitioners around whom
still fingers the odor Of calomel and
SIENNA have banded themselves together
to suppress the younger members OF
the profession who are said to be
tending towards q dangerous ls1ity In
professional conduct. For q hundred
years or more the allopsths have fol.
lowed Q code which prohibits all
members from consulting With ply
sicians Of other schools, from advcr.
Using their profession and from doing
several other equally harmless things
Of = like nature, and every doctor who
declined to follow these rules has been
branded as . quack. Bat Of late
years there has been q tendency among
. large number of the profession to
rebel against the sensitive restrictions
of the medical code and many
of the most distinguished pro.
fessors and practitioners have en-
tirely repudiated 1t. A year ago
the New York Medical society
formally declined to be bound by It's
provisions. They denied the necessity
of Its existence and declared that they
would consult with whom they pleased
or refuse to consult with whom they
pleased. Two Of the largest of the
New York medical colleges are with
the liberals, the College of Physicians
and Surgeons and the University,
while Bellevue holds the fort with the
elder practitioners. The last act In
the drama has been q meeting of the
New York Academy of Medicine un-
der the charge of the Bellevue men
and q Wholesale reading out of the
profession, by that society, of all doc.
tors who refuse to abide by the old
regulations. Who shall decide when
doctors disagree4 An impartial public,
of course. There Is no good reason
why physician should refuse
to consult with whoever he
pleases. Suppose he does happen
to exchange views with q quack, does
tina. necessarily render his views
worthless In consultation with others 2
What good grounds could a lawyer
give for refusing to consult with an
other lawyer If requested by hi, client
to do so, even IL the other attorney
should happen to be a shyster, and
how would such consultation affect
either his own professional standing
or injure his clients interest? Tae
fact of tie matter IL that the schools
of medicine have been 90 modified
within the Last twenty-five years that
there are less differences of treatment
between the schools than there are be.
tween different physiclans Of the same
school. AfSer all, the patients care
less for the interminable qu~arrellings
of the doctors than they do for their
own recovery.
There Ia even less reason why phyai'
clans should not advertise Legitimate.
ly than thoge Is Why they should not
consult with ''irregulars." The older
ply n~icisps, have made n reputation
and may not need 1t. Their fame il
taeir bss5 advertisement. Besides
their names fnd their way con
staatly into priat in notices
of famous operations, recommends
tions for remedies and In many Other
ways not open to the young doctor,
What reason is there why young ply
sicisns should not stimulate their bus
mess iust as a young attorney does
so long az In 80 doing he does not lose
his self respect2 The code Furnished
an excellent excuse for the doctors tc
blk the pspsra. Az things now e
they are glad enough to let the public
know when they set a leg or amputatt
q limb or remove a cancer, but they
shadder with horror at the tdes o.
paying anything for the notice. That
they claim, would be ''unprofession
al" 1t would also, sometimes, b,
iuoonvenient. If the doctors woult
drop their everlasting growls ant
practice their profession In the ligh'
Of modern science the world would b,
better, and the mortality tables woule
be shorter and less closely filed. Thu
time has come for medical practition
ers to drop their e~1clusiveness. Th'
public will no lorger sustain 1t.