The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-25
KEEPING SECRETS.
Penn" in Philadelphia Bulletin.

PENN" in Philadelphia Bulletin.
Some time ago an employe of an old
bank on Third street was taken seriously
Ill. He believed himself to be on his death
dicated great anxiety. and in the midst
Of his delirious calculations he uttered
words of dire import concerning his rela-
tions to the bank. They were overheard
by his physician, who conceived 1t to be
his duty to proceed straightway to the
bank and inform its officers Of the things
that had been revealed to him involuntar-
lily, II not unconsciously, in the privacy
and confidence Of the sick room. The bank
had suspected little or nothing to be wrong:
1t Immediately discovered that the caves
dropper to smitten conscience had
brought some truth, and the result was
publicity, shame and punishment-scandal
to an estimable family and lifelong sor
row for the innocent.
How far the physician was justified in
communicating to the officers Of the bank
his suspicious or what he had heard from
his patient, whether voluntarily or In
voluntarily, was question which occupied
some attention at the time on the part Of
casuists and moralists. l think that the
trend of opinion was decidedly against
him. Most Of the physicians in Philadel-
phia to whom the question was put were
Germs of the public welfare would war
rant such a disclosure. They could not
bring themselves to an acquiesence in
the suggestion that morality required
them to perform the Office Of the detective
or the minister Of justice. Indeed. some
Of them were disposed to look upon the
conduct Of this jealous upholder of the
social fabric as that of garrulous mis-
chief-maker or a feeble sneak-an opion
in which as a layman l was in entire &C.
cord, as doubtless was every other man
who has had much occasion to observe the
happy effects often produced by the pre-
servation Of the things given In the conf
dence Of professional life.
These thoughts are suggested by the
publication Of the verdict of $500. which a
jury has given against the famous DR..
Playfair, who informed his wife and other
persons of the moral delinquencies which
he had discovered in the course of his pro-
fessional attendance on a female patient.
There was no special need why he should
have said anything at all about the mat
ter to anybody. What he might say would
be certain to produce irretrleyable In
jury to character the moment it passed
beyond the control Of his lips. Whether
1t was carelessness, or malice, or brutal
levity, which led to the disclosure Is not
clear; but the court seems to have laid
that the physician has no right to set him
selp up as a censor of morals or to play
the part Of an informer or tattler, un-
less 1t may be to prevent the commission
or a crime.
Il II Il
1t Is unnecessary to say that this sense
of obligation to secrecy in the dealings of
the physician with his patient Is almost an
essential to the maintenance Of society In
its present forms. 1t is certainly an es-
sential to the happiness Of individuals.
Matrimony is an institution, for example,
which might go to wreck II silence was
less the duty Of the physician. There
are few men or women who at some time
1l.,- l~ =, oil % nN
NIT him to the ipner secrecies of their
households, or to reveal to him some folly
or foible or weakness In which they or
their kinsmen or their children would in
cur the repraoch Of scandal II 1t were to be
let out into the light Of day.
Indeed, 1t is probable that there Is no
class of professional men in Philadelphia,
neither lawyers, nor the clergy. nor even
newspaper, men. who, obtain custody. Of
than the four thousand practitioners Of
medicine. The ethics Of the College Of
Physicians on the subject are observed
with as much attention as the unwritten
law which forbids a physician to advertise
his vocation In the public prints. Tho
general tendency Of judicial decisions has
been to uphold them In refusal to break
the seal Of secrecy in the sick room, and
conduct Of DR.. William Playfair would be
in danger Of ostraclsm by his brethren.
Not less remarkable Is the care with
which the clergy as a rule decline to abuse
the confidence Of their charges and spirit
tai dependents. This Is particularly ex-
emplifed in the practice Of the confession
al in the Roman Catholic church. They
sometimes come into possession of secrets
which even the affection Of filial loyalty
or the faith and confidence Of wedlock
will not draw from the owner. Yet Bishop
Wood remarked once that he knew Of no
case In his diocese under his long admin
istration involving the betrayal of the
confessional. Two or three years ago.
ger, produced q play which was seen
here under the title OF "The Broken Seal"
and In which the plot turned entirely on
the duty Of q Catholic clergyman to dis
close o confcsston ana secure the ends of