Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-09
\ POTENT EVIL,
The Curse of Ethics in the Med- icaI Profession
Is Being Rapidly Overcome and the People Are Beginning to Get Their Eyes
 Open.

1 "In these days of progress and enlight- | enment," said an eminent divine, "peo-
 pie are becoming more and more in-
 formed, not only on religious subjects
 and matters pertaining to their spiritual
 affairs, but upon temporal things as well,
 and especially that which concerns their physical well-being."
 For instance' said he, "take the med
 ical profession. which from time immemo- | rial has had, and still has, an accursed | code of ethics for no other purpose than | to keep the masses of the laity in abject | ignorance and in order to aggran- | dize a chosen few by covering everything up in Latin ;and prohibiting doctors from | advertising. This code of ethics was born | blind in the land if paganism having | originated before Buddha Mahomet, | Shun or any other false redeemer. | antedating, as it does, every relig- | ious sect, form of government and system | of philosophy that has ever existed on | earth. Therefore it gropes in the dark l and necessarily rests on a false basis, and above all things should be revolutions | ized and opened to modern improvement. l If doctor knows that as simple thing as a saturated solution of salt and water will cure certain disease. and, per chance, save mans life, he ought to be | allowed to say in plain English to that | man: I know what will cure you; l | have the remedy for your disease; have l tried 1t before in the cases of others sui | fering with the same disease, and know | 1t will cure you Go and gargle your throat with salt and water. That will | cure you. But no; the accursed ethics | preclude; let the man die if he does not | know instinctively without being told hot al m dootnr made a SDpclal | study of the disease he is sickening from and has the remedy to cure him-yea, ] that the man himself has the remedy in 1 his own house, right under his nose II ne | only knew it. But ethics say: No, don't tell him; let him find out for himself, ana | then write him prescription for satu- rated solution of sodium chloride. Charge | him fee and keep the secret; it's ethics, | and doctor dare not violate ethics. | man may die. Well and good. But a doctor must not break the rules and tell l tales out of school Neither shall he ad- | Vertise. No matter how much skill he | possesses nor how much power he may l have to alleviate pain, cure loathsome l diseases and remedy hideous deformities, I he must not proclaim 1t publicly Let the | world find him out as best the world can. | Again, here is boy with fearful l deformity-congenital club foot. Ills | parents are ignorant, and do not even know that it is possible to have his feet | | being done. They live in the backwoods I and read nothing but the Bible and coun- | ty paper. The boys case is an extreme | one; his feet cannot be strengthened after | certain age. A skilled surgeon In | neghboring city has the remedy; he can l straighten the boys feet. He has straight | ened other boys feet, and he knows he
 can straighten this boys feet.
 "The boy goes on growing, getting l nearer and nearer past the hope or cure | d. .fl l.ie ifn ha knnyNS | 1t, but what Is to be done? He cannot af- | ford to sacrifice his professional fealty.
 Ethics say: Let that boy go club-footed | all the days of his life, a. curse to himself | and his race, but you don't dare tell him | you can cure him-don't you do 1t! If l you do you outlaw yourself and prosti- | tute the profession, and we will denounce
 you and persecute you and point the fin- | ger of scorn at you all the days of your l life Beware! Like the laws of the Medes and Persians the code of medical ethics l is unchangeable. Beware! The boy | grows to manhood, and learns too late l that he has been cheated out of cure. | We see such cases every day and every l where we go.
 "Who's to blame? say medical eth- | ics; but thank God, the evil is being up- | rooted Broad-mnded men are breaking | loose from the time-honored chains and | letters of ancient prejudice and snapping 1 their fingers at the blind god of ethics I
 and otherwise the extent of their ability | to cure afflicted humanity and alleviate human suffering Are not such men hu-
 manitarians? Yes; a thousand times yes. | I call to mind little girl who had had | no use of one of her limbs from her in
 fancy. Her father is a minister-Elder | A. G. Raines of Travellers Rest, Ala. He | sought relief far and near. Ordinary
 skill failed to do the child any good and
 her father despaired of cure. Finally
 he read the advertisement of a celebrated | orthopedic surgeon of Birmingham and | carried the child to him and obtained | complete cure. Had this surgeon never
 advertised that little girl would have re- | mained a lifelong cripple on account of | ethics If man Is sick I say he has
 right to be cured, and if a doctor knows | how to cure that man 1t Is his Christian
 duty to say so and let his light shine for
 the benefit of his fellow man. Almost any of us can do too much harm, but none 1 of us can do too much good.
 Now happen to be acquainted with l this Birmingham surgeon, and I have | watched his career with a keen interest. | He Is a broad-gauged, thorough-going, | progressive man, who practices what he
 breaches, combines science and skill with | advertising and does all he claims. He is | a graduate of the Bellevue Hospital Med l ical college of New York city, and has his | papers from Kings college aof London, | England; having devoted his whole life | to the work and spent thousands Of dol | lars in acquiring his. education. I refer
 to pr. Ralph M Russell of Birmingham. Ala, who has undoubtedly shed more
 light on this dark subject and done more | to open the eyes of the masses to this | ethical evil than any other southerner,
 and he richly merits the success he has | won as well as the praise of the people
 and confidence of the public for this mo-
 ble work. He boldly advertises what he l can do. and, what is more. does 1t. His | reputation will bear the closest fnvesti-
 gation. and the afflicted and deformed | would do well to interest themselves by l sending for his free catalogue, written l in plain English.
 | But digress. Coming to the subject | proper will say in conclusion that there | is no other profession or calling that has
 a code of ethics restricting mans pro- | fessional conduct. Every minister, law l yer. editor, manufacturer and tradesman | is a law unto himself in relation to con- 1 duct, and is free to do what he may deem | proper for the good of the community, | and firmly believe that the time is near