The Portland daily press., 1899-01-24

who have In good fnith given thelr SER
vices to the hospital
As your hoard saw ft, at Its last an
nuaI meeting. 20 drop me from the surgi-
cal staf Of the Infirmsry, Yves forestalled
in the sending to you of my resignation,
which at that time l had already written.
My resignation wins written after n per
eonat appeal TO the Executive surgeon,
TO abandon u practice which l believe
must in the eDu bring discredit upon him
self as well as upon the lnilrmary.
nor the past year l have waited hoping
that reform might be Instituted from the
inside, and because i could no longer
speak as one of the staff. Believing That
no reform has been made, now consider
Ii duty to make this protest, and ieel
that my past connection with the Initrm-
nry and the keen interest which l feel Tor
its welfare justify me in SO doing
Should your board see ut to Investigate
the conditions undsr which the lntlrmary
Is now managed, l stand ready TO forinu-
late explicit charges"
Your reply, dated the same evening, re-
quested me to submit in writing any
charges might desire to make on or be-
fore Dec %.
On Dec. 2s, 1 sent to your board the
following letter.
Portland, Me, Dec. ~, 1ses.
To the Trustees OF the Maine Ego and
Ear lnilrmaFy,
Gentiemen:-
The letter from your Secretary, dated
Dec. 18th, and requesting me to submit
I'm writing, such charges ms l desire TO
make against the Executive Surgeon, Is
at hand
While recretting the necessity for so
doing, feel compelled tn make the fol-
lowing charRes:-
Eirss. That DR. Holt has sent his bill
for Professional services to patients who
a sf,~ loan fRr AT
tered at the infirmnry us charity patients.
These patients anu also some of the
physicians who sent them 10 the lnhrm-
airy, feel that DIR. Holt mas obtained
money from them under false pretenci 5,
aud the criticism which they freely make,
must soon bring the Institution and all
those who have given their services 10 IL,
into disrepute.
second: That DR.. Holt has grad
uGopted the plan OF refusing 10 give
patients prescription ior grasses, hiIar
they have been registered cs free patients
and an examination made at the lnfirm-
AIRY. Patients are told that they must
20 to DIR Hollis house FOR their elasses.
The profit on glasses thus sold, amounts
TO the sarIe thing rs prs iessinnal lie,
charged to the patients directly.
| make t..>se two charges with the un-
lie, standing that the facts as stated, are
not in any way the rebl question at issue,
because in all fairness to DIR. Holt. !
odght to say that be makes no denial OF
them,
ahe real question Is whether your board
viii agree with DIT Holt. thut such sys.
tenn of management is f1r the best inter
est OF the Int!rmary.
DR. Holt feels jus Tiled in reeouping
himself financially BECAUSE he believes
that the existence of such free institu-
tion as the Iuiirmary, must result in great
loss TO his private business, l need not
point out to your bonrd that such a p ST.
tion is absolutely untenable, but / have
called DIR. Hollis attention to the fact
shat hospital established for the poor
only, can in no way decrease his own
practice, while there nre many other taots
which might have such an influence.
a few well to do individuals will al
ways be found in every charitable institu-
tiun for the sick, but the small loss from
this cause does not fall upon any particu-
lar physician, but upon every physician
in the community. ! think / am right
in saying, that in the Maine Eye and Ear
Iptrmary, no attempt worthy the name,
has ever been made to bar out the wei to
do patients who apply for treatment, and
under the present system, it will readily
be seen that the Executive Surgeon can
have ne interest in so doing.
Very respectfully,
JOHN W. BOWERS.
On the same night that this letter was
read. your secretary wrote stating that
the Board desired me to make my charges
specific, giving dates, amounts ana
names, and l was requested to file the
same with the secretary on or before Dec.
3lst / was also informed that the board
would be pleased to give me hearing If
l so desired on Jan. 18th. n response to
this request, l filed on Dec. 3lst. list of
seven cases, marked from "a to "G'.
In writing these two letters to your
board. l did not, frankly admit, expect
TO be called upon to cite specific cases. /
expected DR.. Holt 10 admit the fact, and
it would then have been simple matter
for your board 10 have take tho matter
over with him in order u Geoi3o whether
you agreed hat his system Of manage
ineut was for the best interests Of the
lnlTmary. | have no means OF knowing
whether DR.. Holt did make any general
denial at the meeting on Dec. 24th, when
the Charges were urst presented. If he
did it Was only fair that ! should be called
upon to give your board any specific cases
that might seem TO suhstantate the charg-
IS. This ] was perfectly willing to do,
bat as tie matter was made public,
lAh4p U icy own, OH INC
morning after the meeting, l found upon
interviewing some of the patients, who
had in times past complained bitterly to
me Of their treatment at the Infirnary,
that there was very general disinolina-
ton to have their names used in an in
vestigation Of this kind unless as they
said, l absolutely needed it. AS had no
desire 10 drag any one neealessly before
!cuT board, decided to cite only three
cases bearing upon each of my charges
AT the last moment. and just before the
cases were fled, decided TO Introduce a
seventh case, not because of ITS bearing
upon either Of the two charges, but be-
cause 1t shows SO clearly the confusion
that may arise under the present system,
and the difficulties which even a