The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-06-27
Medical Ethics.
no Editor OF ADvERTIsER:

0kSuACoh ANtAhtCos ~
To Editor OF ADVERTISER:
saw In last weeks ADVERTISER
the notice OF our Secretary In ref
erence to the July meeting of the
County Medical Society and L want
to ask of you space enough for q
few remarks to the physicians of
Laurens County aud the public
generally upon the aims and OBJ
jects OF this Society. The impress
sion prevails In some sections that
the Medical Society Is some sort of
secret order whose chief aim and
purpose is to make up "Black-
Lists,n to maintain a high fee-bill,
and to legislate generally against
the public and those who are not
members, and in favor of those
doctors who. are. Such an impress.
sion was conceived in ignorance,
brought forth in prejudice and has
been nursed aud nurtured by some
physicians who hope to build them
selves up by misrepresenting
others. The Medical Society is not
a secret or partisan Organization
Were it's proceedings of interest to
the general public, they would be
admitted to all its sessions. The
Laurens County Medical Society is
a voluntary association of reputs-
bic physicians for the purpose Of
and 1 quote from its constitution
"Of advancing medical knowledge,
the elevation of professional char
acter, the extension of all mean
looking to the relief of suffering
or the cure of disease and the i'm
provement of its members, with
the protection of their interests.n
This is its platform. It's code of
Ethics in a nut shell Is "Be o. gen.
tleman" and its motto "The Golden
Rule" Over one half the profess
sion already belong to it and its
membership is increasing as it's
usefulness expands. Its members
derive benefit in exact proportion
to what they do for the Society,".
Those who have gained nothing
from it are those who have given
nothing to it. There are obliga-
tions of physicians to tho public
and obligations of the public 10
their physicians. Would that these
were more generally understood!
1t Is the duty of physicians to
enlighten the public. I would say
to every doctor in Laurens County
"Give your patients a copy of the
Constitution and Code of Ethics Of
the South Carolina Medical Asso-
ciation" of which Jul Society is a
branch, and ask them to read it,
Thon they will be better able to dis
tinguish the true physician from
the impostor and sham, and under.
stand perhaps, as they have never
done before, the attitude of honor
able medicine. There Is nothing
secret about the doctors creed, and
1t should be more widely read by
tho iaity. The benefits to be deriv-
ed from the combination and COM
mingling of those engaged in the
same occupation are too generally
admitted to require argument. In
such meetings, as an eloquent law
yer of another state said lately,
"truth is brought to light by the
friction Of discussion; error is de-
tected in tho crucible of disputa-
ton. The doctor who does not
mingle and debate with his breth-
rem bee mes a laggard in the race,
as useless as the vermiform appen-
dix and frequently as fruitful a
source of danger"
At the recent meeting of the
South Carolina Medical Associa-
ton In Sumter, a prominent citizen
Of that city in welcoming the dele.
gates used the following striking
and truthful illustration:
societies have been aptly COM
pared to a heap of embers, which
when separated. soon languish,
darken and expire, but if placed
together, glow with q ruddy intense
heat-a fit emblem of the strength,
security and usefulness of such
union"
Then let each one renew his in
terest in the County Medical So
ciety and in all our dealings exem-
plify Its true aim and object.
M. D.