The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-02-25
LONDON DOCTORS.

gTa qsy-1 E;ssse u Strtcter Etiquette Than
!. sAmeriean Mevic7s4 Men.
very few people. Durs8tte O. the pro
fession. said well gzfown English
physician recently, have he slightest
idea how medical men are hedged
round by etiQpette until they can
| scarcely take a step, however innocent,
toward procuring a patient without a
serious risk of putting their foot in it
with the medical council
SO fearful are the authorities lest any
/ member of the profession should be
suspected of such a horrible thing as
soliciting custom that the very letters
pf the name on his doorplate may not
exceed a certain size If he moves
from one house to another he mustn't
proclaim the fact, and he must at once
remove his plate from the house he is
leaving.
He should not allow his name to APP
pear in the papers if he can help it,
and indeed the editors Of the leading
newspapers have been requested by the
authorities to suppress any reference
TO doctors by name as far as possible
These are but samples Of the jealousy
with which honor is guarded until the
modest violet that bushes unseen is an
audacious flower compared with the
doctor who has his bread and butter to
make, but mustn't show sign of it.
| Of course there are heaps of doctors
who do advertise in spite of all these
restrictions and the penalties for defy
ing them There is the man who cam
not take his seat once week in church
without being summoned away by a
perspiring messenger to an imaginary
patient and the man whose carriage
you are always meeting driving furi-
pusly as if on a life or death Grand
Then there's DR.. Blank, whose wife
and relatives advertise his wonderful
skill'' in the most unblushing way, and
Dr. Dash, who gets so desperate that
he takes the bit in his teeth and de-
liberately touts for patients.
But when man is caught offending
his shrift is short, for he is quickly
summoned to appear before the tribu-
nal to account for his delinquencies.
This tribunal is the doctors court mar
tial and holds it's sittings periodically
In an impressive court.
The court consists of members of the
general medical council, all doctors of
eminence, who sit around long table,
at the head of which is the president
on a raised seat. Facing the presid-
ing judge at the lower end of the table
is the happy culprit whose case is be-
ing investigated and who generally
feels just about as happy as if he were
being tried on a capital charge. And
little wonder, for on the verdict of the
court depends whether or not he leaves
the court a ruined man.
The trial is very similar to those
held in an ordinary court. There is
the prosecutor, an official of the coun-
Gil; there are witnesses to be exam
ined, cross examined and re-eXamined,
and there is the defendants counsel,
often we'll known barrister. When
all the evidence has been taken and
sifted, the room is cleared of all but
the judges. who decide on their YER
dict while the defendant and his
/ friends wait outside.
At last the signal is given, the door
is thrown open, and the verdict of the
court is read out 1T may be an ac
quital or a severe reprimand or even
a suspension for time from practice,
or, if the offense has been great, it
may be a sentence of expulsion from
the professionalism the defendants
name be- struck off the register-and
this means absolute and hopeless ruin.
Is it wonder that with such an ordeal
and penalties in view English doctors
are, as rule, such models Of profess
sional propriety ?-Chicago News.