The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-30
OF Ten UNABLE TO PAY
Shouldn't be Made to Fl ell Themselves
Objects of Charity.
INJUSTICE TO DOCTOR AND TO PA TENT
Physicians Who Aie Devoted 10 Their Profess
sion Cannot Pursue The Business Meth
DDS Employed by Other Pro-
fessional Men.
fessional Men.

To the Editor: The average laborer usu-
ally expects all the money his labor
brings him in the maintenance of him
self and family He has to do it and
often there is barely enough to go around.
The laboring people of a country are
the producers of its wealth and their
physical we'll being is of as much impor-
lance to the commonwealth as their moral
we'll being Economy demands that their
health should be looked after by the
State. because disease and accidents oc-
cur most frequently among them and it
is impossible for them to lay up money to
meet their obligations for medical attend
ance.
There is nothing of such Importance to
the, individual or the community as
health. Besides it, wealth. influence and
fame pale into insignificances so long as
disease exists and is contagious or in
fectious, it will be transmitted from one
to another. and every human being will
be a possible storehouse of danger to
some other individual.
Efforts to annhilate disease have al
ways proved futile because they have not
been extensive enough The best that has
ever been accomplished is restricted limi-
tation. All diseases that ever existed
exist today They will always exist unless
the government takes charge of the medi-
cal profession and makes the health of
mankind the object of paramount inter
est.
The sick poor never fail to seek relief.
Otter there is an old doctor whose good
ness of heart SurpaSSeS his judgment who
gives them abundantly of his time. Gen
orally, there is q sufficient number of
young doctors who are anxious to gain
experience to respond to the calls of the
poor and give them the attention they
require
1t is probably not much out of the way
for a young doctor to attend the poor
without compensation. They furnish him
object lessons from which he gains knowl-
edge and practical experience without
which he certainly can not do justice to
those who pay for services.
The doctors who attend the poor expect
pay and the poor who are attended think
they ought to pay. But after the most
urgent expenses are met there is nothing
to pay with What is the result? If the
doctor is following his profession for the
dollars and cents, he may continue to
render service for the free advertising 1T
gives him, but he becomes negligent in
his diagnosis and shiftless in his man
ner of treatment This habit will grow
and instead of becoming a better doctor
he becomes a worse one.
Some of the poor are so honorable that
they will go half fed in order to be able
to discharge their obligations. This is
more than any kind-hearted man would
desire them to do. The majority, if per-
to A
the same time, they may be pinching
themselves to pay other bills which must
be paid or they lose their credit. Their
silly pride makes it appear to them to be
higher toned to be than to acknowledge
their inability
There is another class of the poor who
though they be great frauds and syco
phantfc hypocrites generally make the
young doctor feel good, and if he is vain
and weak almost turn his head Every
doctor who has practiced five years has
listened to their admiring adulations.
MRS. Jones said, Doctor, you was the
best physician in North Carolina. She
didn't know what pore folks would do
when you died. 1t peared to her like the
good Lord ought to let you live for
ever"
One would think the majority of the
poor are grateful but they are not The
CAPACITY to feel the emotion of gratitude
belongs only to a noble and sentimental
nature The poor experience sentiment
of obligation and if the obligation can
not be discharged, it becomes CALLING
wears on the mind and eventually ends
in dislike and hatred.
Every bill unpaid, every obligation not
discharged debases mans moral nature
more and more. 1t destroys his manhood
and saps his integrity. One unpaid Dill
makes him feel bad, another does not
affect him so much, many and he does
not care.
Free medical practice financially is of
no advantage to the doctor who gives
it antl is debasing to the man who re-
ceiyes III. Any social condition that does
not defend and protect the weak points in
human nature is a disadvantage to moral
advancement and ought to be abolished.
For moral reasons, the doctor ought to
be a public officer and compelled to rem
der service to- all who need him. This
would remove the degrading moral influ-
ence that his unpaid service has upon the
minds and natures of the INDECENT.
The doctor who uses his poor practice
for the sole purpose of making them step
ping stones to the pockets or the rlch
has not enough true scientific spirit in him
to make him a sincere seeker after
knowledge If by fnesse and manage
ment he floats into the confidence and
patronage of the well to do, they fall into
abe hands of one who will work them Tor
all they are worth. The doctor who does
not love his own personal honesty above
dollars is not safe to trust. The sick
and frightened patient is completely at
his mercy He can keep him sick and
multiply visits. He can reduce his fees
and by frightening his period of attend
ance, rob him under the guise of doing
favors.
The only type of men who are fit to
become physicians are those who have
an infauation for truth and knowledge.
which can be found as readily in the