Wichita eagle., 1888-05-17
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
LEAST PROFITABLE OF ANY FROM
A FINANCIAL STANDPOINT.
A Comfortable Living IL About All the
Average Physician Can Expect The
Doctors Bin the Last to Be Paid

A Comfortable Living Is About All tho
Average Physician Can Expect ct-T The
Doctors Bin the Last to Be Paid
Dishonesty.
The medical profession is, taken as whole,
the least profitable of any in monetary
point Of view. For a person who seeks
riches, it is really the last one to enter. It
is true some have grown wealthy in the
legitimate practice of medicine, but such are
very rare exceptions, and not one in thou
sand is so fortunate Really, comfortable
living is about all the average physician can
expect, and before he can attain that he must
meet many hardships and know much self
denial II people would only consider the
sums which he must invest first before he
can attain his degrees" and after that be-
fore he can 'pay his way the loss Of wages,
if SO we may speak, for the years devoted to
study and waiting for q competency, they
would realize that comparatively few busi-
ness men have so much invested in their
''stock in trade" as the doctor. They would
then be less ready to deny him q fair COM
pensation for his labors
THE LAST BILL PAID.
Not only are the incomes of physicians, es
q rule smaller than those of men Of other
professions, notably the legal and minis
teriaI, but even the sums which they receive
are grudgingly yielded. 1t is notorious that
the last bill to be paid is the doctors. Trades
mems claims are always preferred" If it
happens that the services Of an undertaken
have been employed, he, too, is among the
first creditors to be paid. If anything is
loft nd fhara {c of ifc heip O
needed for any other purpose, why then the
doctors bill is considered. But it would be
violating old customs were it to be paid in
full. A complete settlement in nine cases
out Of ten is only effected after he has de-
Quoted large per cent of what is due him.
Even the most honest OF patients seem to
have little or no compunction about asking
him for discounts, even when they we'll know
that the physicians bill rendered is not only
just, but reasonable ''The doctor makes
his money easily" says the average patient,
and full of that belief he adjusts his sense of
right and equity and drives sharp bargain
II he can.
1t is safe to say that but few physicians in
general practice manage to collect more than
half of their bills It is certainly not pleas
ant to contemplate that large share of our
people are dishonest, and swindle their ply
sicians. And yet such is actually the case.
1t Is doubtful if there is any class of men in
business who would be content to receive
such treatment. Why in the name of all
that is right and proper should physicians DO
obliged to put up with ita Probably they
themselves are in measure accountable for
it, Were they more exacting, and, making
the practice of medicine a trade, insisted
upon the full and immediate payment for
their services when rendered, their patients
would in time learn to be honest. Very few
doctors would care to take such course if
they could, and yet it is an open question if
all concerned would not be better in tho end
for it, We say that they cannot always be
SO rigid, if they would. No physician can
act on such lines in the face of an unfortunate
whose Sufferings he can relieve, or whose life
he can save, even il he knows full well that
at the nearest grog shop will be worse than
wasted the sum he ought to have received,
and which he has richly earned. Patients
have learned the principles which direct ply
sicians, and the promptness witch sway
them, and many are not slow to take mean
advantage.
MAKING CHANGE.
Something after this fashion does he suffer
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