Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-19
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
LEAST PROFITABLE OF ANY FROM
 A FINANCIAL STANDPOINT.

LEAST PROFITABLE OF ANY FROM
 A FINANCIAL STANDPOINT.
 A Comfortable Living is About All tho
 Average Physician Can Expect The
 Doctors Bill tho Last to Be Paid
 Dishonesty.
 The medical profession is, taken as a whole. the least profitable of any in monetary point of view For @ 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 If people would only consider the sums which he must invest first before he can attain his s'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 a 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 fair com- pensation for his labors
 THE LAST BILL PAID.
 Not only are the incomes of physicians, as a rule smaller than those of men of other professions, notably the legal and minis terial, but even the sums which they receive are grudgingly yielded It is notorious that the last bill to be paid is the doctors. Trades mems claims are always ''preferred" If it I,o,. xl zf have been employed, he, too, is among the first creditors to be paid. If anything is left, and there is no prospect of its being 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- ducted 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 well 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 a sharp bargain if he can. .s "..7
 It 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 a large share of our people are dishonest, and swindle their phy- sicians. And yet such is actually the case. It 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 be obliged to put up with it2 Probably they themselves are in measure accountable for 1t. Were they more exacting, and. making the practice of medicine 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 a course if they could, and yet it is an open question if all concerned would not be better in the 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 if 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 phy- sicians, and the promptness which sway them, and many are not slow to take mean advantage.
 MAKING A CHANGE.
 
 from them. Very likely, when a stranger and first called, the illness he treats is a severe one, or it may be desperate emer- gency. He is successful in his treatment, and for several months after is the recog- nized attendant of that family. They think much of him, and encourage neighbors and friends to patronize him. After time his bill comes in and is met with some excuse which is readily accepted. As time goes on and the debt remains unpaid, his collector is more persistent. At last another attack of sickness occurs in the same family, and, in- stead of sending for the physician to whom they are indebted, who did so well on former occasion, and in whose praise they have been so loud, they employ another. The neighbors see the strange physician callingy and naturally ask why the change. Not one of the class of people we are describ- ing have manhood and womanhood enough to prompt him to give the true, honest req son for it. Nol They simply say Dr. So- and-so did not do as well the last time we 'had him" as he did at first, and so we thought we would not call him again. That, of course, has its influence, and the friends and neighbors who have previously been well disposed toward him whose experience we are illustrating, are thereafter inclined to doubt his ability.
 The consequence is, the skillful and oblig- ing physician, to whom is owed not only the money, for which he has patiently waited, but a wealth of gratitude for his devotion to the former sick one, loses not only the amount of his bill, but also the reputation which he has justly earned in the neighbor. hood. One evil disposed person, without @ shadow of truth to sustain his assertions, can in a close community do physician an injury, by exciting prejudice against him, which he cannot overcome in a lifetime Strange as it may seem, it is yet true, that these patients of certain class, whom he treats most indulgently, are the easiest made his worst enrmies.-Boston Herald.
 London Prize Ring Rules.
 The more important of the London prize ring rules:
 Twenty-four foot ring. Each man has two seconds Each man has one umpire The referees decision is final. At the call of 'ttimen the seconds must leave the ring Thirtv seconds het ween rounds Raferea