The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-27
SHIPS DOCTORS PAY.
It Is Very Poor, and There Should Be
a Reform.

The nl-paid ships doctor has been dis
cussed time out of mind and the subject
of his status has been again brought up.
His pay is $50 a month, more or less,
generally less. He is given a very COM
Portable cabin, which is generally situated
so that he can be consulted by all classes
of passengers and If it is placed forward
near the crew 1t Is not intended as. a
slight. but as a convenience to him. 1t is
his office, and no more detracts from his
dignity than to compel the chief engineer
TO visit the fireroom. On war vessels the
surgeon lives with the other officers be-
cause he has an office elsewhere. His
status on merchant vessels Is not of the
best, but this is no reason for the de-
rogatory remarks so often made as to his
capacity.
Passengers are charity patients by law.
and this Is the defect. Ships are compelled
to carry a physician to attend cases of ILL
ness or injury, for otherwise these I'M
fortunateS receive no care-a former scan
dial now rarely heard OF. Companies find
that they can secure n physician at low
rates and that his income is pieced out
by honorariums In the style of past genera
tions when no fees are charged. They are
looked upon as tips and the doctor Is
degraded to the position of a room steward.
If this is really true. and we doubt it.
1t might be the reason why better men
cannot be secured, assuming that they are
Inefficient. The remedy is evident. Let
there be n scale of fees as in land practice.
for why should the law make a pauper of
a passenger IL he needs a physician he
should employ one like every other self
respecting man.
Passengers often need the best medical
skill. and will naturally lake those ships
having it. More and more often do we
hear of invalids sent away for ocean travel
and actually carried on board. Modern
life is increasingly producing these partial
wrecks who need delicate management.
They ere perfectly willing to pay for med
ical advice, and should be expected to pay
for II. 1t seems that steamship companies
would enhance their own interests and
that of the passengers by. employing high
grade physicians who will not desert shore
practise unless well paid. There will be
less criticism Of the doctors ability. 1t
is often unjust, for every one Is led to be-
lieve that some fatalities among palssen-
gers are avoidable-a view we are 10th to
accept, although we do believe hat the
standard of efficiency is not as high as it
should be.
Unlicensed ships doctors should be pro-
hibited by federal law. As far as we know,
1t Is possible for men who repeatedly
fail to pass State examining boards and
are barred from land practise, to obtain
a ship position for food and lodging, de-
pending upon occasional voluntary fees
for their Income. Who these
because some doctor asks it-quacks and
all others? An examining board should be
convened by law whose requirements
should be as high ina this speciality as
the tests should be the same as for en-
trance TO the navy or marine hospital
service-then the pay would have to be in
creased or the positions would be empty.
Influential passengers, in self-protection.
should demand these reforms-and we
the matter 40 the federal gov
eminent and the medical profession as
well.-American Medicine.