Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-12-24
MEDICATION By FORCE.
STARTLING PROPOSITION MADE BY
A NOTED PHYSICIAN

sickness should he Punishable by Law.
He Advocates That There he No Privat.
Practitioners, but an Organized Medical
Poiiee-a Radical Idea.
sickness is crime and should be
plade punishable by law"
This remark emanated from one Of the
most emineat and highly respected phy-
sicians in the city.
mo physician, however far advanced
in his profession he may be, can CON
scientiously say that he is infallibly fa-
miliar with the cases he Is called on to
treat" cont .nued the doctor. NV
opinion Is, rs much as love my profes-
sion, that the sooner the present class of
doctors is wipeI ont the better. be.
lieve that the government should have
| complete charge of caring for the sick
7 throughout the country. and that the
most miserable paupcr should have the
same treatment and show for his life
that the millionaire has ! believe that
+ If such was the case sickness could be re
duced 10 such minimum that the legis-
lature could conscientiously construct a
law making il crime to be sick. Epi-
denies spring from carelessness. and all
sicknesses result from abuses Of the hu-
man system aud neglect.
"My suggestion would be to have the
government select certain physicians and
educate them mp to the very best stand
ard possible TO be obtained in medicine.
Let expense he a secondary considcra-
tion. lf il cost million dollars TO reach
this end lct it he spent. After these
physicians hnve attained their education
cause medical department to he estab-
lished ON the same general plan as the
police department u run.
HIs r>IQuE rLAN,
"Have chief of physicians. inspector
OF physicians. captains Of physicians,
sergeants aud patrolmen. the same a.
the police department ha7. Let this
city, for instance. he divided into pre-.
cincts and sub-preci~'ts, and let the pa
tromen visit each family every day. and
where sickness is found let reports be
made and the proper medical remedies
applied. Let every person. rich or poor,
receive the same proper treatment.
let the salaries of the officers he Of
such a standard and the rules govern.
ing the department be 50 strict that it
would be folly fpr a subordinate to at
tempt discrimination between the rich
and poor. Make il crime punishable
by imprisonment for person 10 attempt
to employ physician not appointed in
the department. Have it 80 systematized
that person could not be taken down
sick without the fact becoming inmcdi-
ately known 10 l.ir department and the
disease checked in its incipiency.
For instance, suppose a patrolman
should discover a peculiar disease in a
tenement house district. Let him al
minister to the imm "tliate relief of the
patient and report the ease to his cap.
tain. The latter reports il to the chief
and the chief sends one of his staff of ex.
pert physicians to diagnose the case and
then apply the proper remedies.
There is no reason why people should
be sick, and when il is discovered that
the same persons have become sick sew
eral times with the same disease through
their own carelessness they should be
arrested and imprisoned as criminals
NhiAiNAL MAiTikA1ilAf r.
"As strange and preposterous as it
may seem, according to years Of observa-
tion and careful calculation and compar-
ison with other countries, there are in the
United States more than IA million cases
OF criminal malpractice annually under
the present system Of doctoring. This
is one Of the principal evils that would
be checked should the government es-
tablish such department as have de-
scribed.
1t would be only comparatively
short time when we would have the
healthiest city in the world, and it
would ultimately result in establishing
a condition of affairs where sickness, ex-
cept in n natural way. would be entirely |
eliminated.
why, just take the report Of the |
mortality IN this state. Ii shows
death rate Of 262 persons day, or an
annual rate of IL persons to every 600 |
inhabitants. Nearly one-third Of these |
deaths occurred under the age of years
from diseases that with proper and inn |
mediate attention could have been cured. |
Diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping
cough, measles, diarrhpal diseases and |
typhoid fever were the principal causes
of death. Under the system have de- |
scribed patrolnen could have discovered |
these cases in time to have checked the |
diseases and saved the persons lives
1T is the only way by which cpl
denies OF infectious diseases can be snc-
cessfully eradicated. and the sooner the |
government sees the necessity Of estab.
fishing such department and over
throwing the present system of doctor
ing the sick the better it will be for the |
nation. New York Telegram.