The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-19
AGREE WITH MANY
ST. PAUL PHYSICIANS THINK CON
GRESS SHOULD PAY M'kIN-
LEY DOCTORS
TOO MUCH FUSS BEING MADE
Patriotism Should Have Pron.pfed
IInn, cdiate Settlement of the
Doctors Claims Mrs. Nc
kinIey Not Responsible.

The doctors of St. Paul, as we'll as
the medical profession in general
throughout the United States, are tax
ing considerable interest in the heated
discussion that is going on in the East
over the question Of the payment Of the
bill for medical attendance on President
Mckinley.
The discussion has arisen as to whether
the bill should be presented to Mrs. Nc
Kinley or to congress. Some believe that,
in attending the late president, the physi-
clans were operating for the American
people, and such being the case, the
American people should pay the bill.
Others think that the Mckinley estate
should be called upon fer settlement.
DR.. Matthew D. Mann, who was one of
the physicians in attendance On President
Mckinley, thinks that congress should
pay the bill. His first reason is that
the physicians were not called in by the
family of the president, but by the au-
thorities members of the cabinet and
others The second reason advanced by
the doctor is that the bill which will be
presented will be entirely too much for
Mrs Mckinley to pay. and that if she
was presented a bill within the resources
of the estate, the physicians would be
very inadequately remunerated
DR.. Mann claims that the physicians
who undertook charge of the president
assumed a great responsibility as they
took the life of the most prominent man
in the world in their hands, and that in
taking that responsibility they took an
enormous risk. He claims that had the
autopsy shown any mistake on their part,
they would have received unlimited con-
den1nation, and would in all probability
have suffered financial ruin. In view of
at bo nd iota alai,
that it is no more than just that they
be amply remunerated by congress.
A canvass of the physicians of St. Paul
yesterday showed that all were of the
same opinion as DR.. Mann. The local
physicians claim that the person calling
in a doctor is responsible for the bill, and
that as the calling of Dr. Mann and his
associates was due to cabinet officials,
that the bill should be presented to them.
The verdict of ST. Paul physicians is
in accord with DR.. Howard Lancaster,
who says:
ct is mater of common law and
custom that the person calling in a physi-
clan is responsible for the payment of the
bill, unless he expressly states at the
time chat he will not assume the respon-
sibility. The cabinet officials were re-
sp9nsible for the physicians called upon
to attend the president, and they are re-
sponsible for the bill OF course this does
not apply to them personally, but merely
as an official body.
II do not suppose the cabinet has any
method of paying the bill, and that it
will have to be presented to congress
Personally, l think that it is a shame
that a bill should have to be presented
for collection. One of the first things
congress should do out of respect to the
late president is to pay the bill, and never
allow the possibility of Mrs. Mckinley
being called upon to pay it. l personally
cannot understand how any person with
the slightest patriotism or gratitude in
his make up could ever for a moment
consider this latter alternative"