The Irish standard., 1895-08-03

Drug Co. 1Ol Washington Avenue South.
I TRIALS OF A DOCTOR
| (From the Cincinnati Enquirer)
| ssI1ave doctors any trouble? They
have 50 many that I sometimes feel sad
when ! see young men enter the profes-
sion, and yet those who follow it are not
| a melancholy lot" said a doctor IN an
swer to the query propounded. OF course
| it is commonly supposed physician be-
comes used to scenes of suffering and the
Epresence of the invisible angel. OF death
and does not allow his personal feelings
! to become involved as would men unac-
custonled to such experiences, but there
are many exceptions. can tell you one
! that happened twenty years ago, which
| has never ceased to haunt me. A very
| intelligent cultivated lady called upon
me one night, and asked me to go with
her to see her husband. They lived IN a
modest cottage, tastefuliy, even elegant
! II furnished. AS soon as saw the man
! I knew that he could not recover. AT
best his life could be prolonged but few
weeks. i told the wife, and she urged me
to spare no efforts to sustain him as long
as possible. Day after day called, ana
| the noble wonanhood Of the LADY at
/
rem, a boy or years Of age, and babe,
and the silent grief with which she Would
look at her dying husband and then at the
| little ones so soon to be left fatheriess
was pitiful, and feared for her sanity.
| knew nothing of her circumstances bnt
learned that neither she nor her nus
band had living relatives.
I'm few months my patient died and
was buried. My fee was paid, and ! dis-
missed the case from my thoughts IL
was not long before the widow called FOR
me to attend her, little boy. Went anu
left some simple remedies, not thinking
| that he was seriously i'll. But the next
day he was dead What complications
had set in I do not know. and could not
have learned without a post n1ortem ex-
animation, Something impelled me to
/ offer my services to make arrangements
| for the funeral, and, handing me wv
| bill the mother thanked me, ana = tooh
charge of the remains. The next day the
mother and her babe were gone A chat
! tel m mol-tgage loan concern came and TOOK
the furniture, upon which the money to
pay me and the undertaken had been por-
rowed, and the house was left bare. !
could obtain no trace Of the mother ana
| her babe Three weeks later q woman
and infant were found dead underneath
! q culyert and their remains were taken
- sNA~ STARVED TO DEATH.
Through a strange curiosity, that I
never had at any other time, i went to
view the bodies. The woman was my
| former patron, and examination showed
the cause OF death to have been starva-
ton. had taken her last dollar with
which to bury her child. The memory
Of that case haunts me to this day, and
every physician has Instances OF The
deaths OF patients that have given him
trouble as though they had been rela-
tiyes. Their are times when telling pa
tient and his family that his case is hope
| less entails acute mental suffering upon
the part Of the doctor.
| 'tBut I suppose it is the daily annoy
ances and vexations that would Interest
you the most "A frequent trouble comes
| from charity patients by whom do not
1 mean the work done gratuit tously for hos
pitals and the charitable institutions
| where every physician Is glad to. contrib
ute his time to alleviate the sufferings Of
! humanity The class I refer to Is one
who calls on a doctor at all hours of day
| and night, always with exaggerated ac-
counts OF the danger attending the ILL
ness, and the doctor would not be true
| to his profession If he did not SO. 4
have had to ride for miles in the middle
| Of the night where I knew / could ex-
pect no: fee, to And that the patient had
1 already recovered from the slight indi-
gestion that caused the pain. The In
! gratitude Of this class is shown by an
| instance in my own practice, / had at
/ tended family FOR three years, even
| supplied medicines and proper food. They
! lived where 1t was impossible for them
| vide themselves with the necessartes of
\ life. They had seen better days and were
| not fitted for rugged life. doctored
| them and helped feed them, while my
/! wife took such an interest Ia them that
| for one year she furnished clothes for
| the family. One day I saw IN the news
papers that by the death OF the mans
uncle he had come into possession of
fortune heard nothing from them for
| u wear when one day the man drove to
my office in handsome carriage and
! called for my bill, saying that he had
! concluded to settle with me, as another
physician whom he had employed seemed
| to understand his constitution better, and
! that he had been sick for six months on
account of the very successful 'ireatrnent
he had received. ] made out the bill,
which he paid after eliminating about one
| half OF it, which was for attendance upon
| a grown daughter, who he said, was OF
| age and must pay her own bills. ss$s W.
CHRONIC ICPATIENTS.
sseThere are the chronic patients, about
lWlomsthe hunlorists make SO many Jokes.
It Is q decided mistake to suppose that;
t.physicians DO not try to5cure them. "A
| doctor doesn't want the reputat tion Of
! keeping his patients sick, and every ply
tsicfan knows that his reputation IS worth
Tar more to him than any immediate fees
! The chronic patients who give ply sicans
trouble are those afflicted with the pecuI
| lar mental complaint AIMED hypochon-
itdria. / once had one Of these cases for
over fifteen years. and during the last
/ 5fifteen wears a friend OF mine has been
| treating the patient, who is neither bet
ter4 rf,a. worse There is nothing what
ever the matter with her. except the hal-f