Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-22
LONDON HOSPITALS COST
S5,OO0,00C EACH YEAR
OPERATING EXPENSES DONATED
BY PUBLIC

inStltuliOnS Are ToT tnc TOUT OHiJJ aiiN
Most Distinguished Surgeons in
the Empire Contribute
Their Services
LONDON, Sept. 21-Andrew Carnegie s
recent gift of $500,000 to the hospitals OF
London has come as a veritable godsend
to those vast but needy institutions,
which are the biggest and perhaps also
the most remarkable of their kind In the
world. Most Americans, no doubt, are
under the impression that London's great
palaces of PAIN which yearly treat
millions of patients and are famous
among the medical fraternity the world
over, are, like most similar institutions
at home, either endowed by wealthy
founders or in receipt of state funds
AS a matter of fact, ehowever, London's
hospitals are entirely supported by
voluntary contributions" and were 1t not
for the donations of private persons and
the general public, whose pennies even
are accepted, these institutions would
have to close up. q
1t is owing to the fact that 'the peo-
ple'' run the great London hospitals that
the latter are operated on what, from the
American point of view, must be re-
garded as rather astonishing lines. In
| the first place, no one but a genuinely
| poor patient is supposed to have access
| to any hospital In the metropolis. Of
| course this rule is not adhered to rigidly,
| but exceptions to 1t are, comparatively
rare, and are made only after elaborate
| explanations. The hospitals, In fact, arc
/ regarded as strictly charitable institu
i tions, and it is for this reason that they
are able to boast among their attending
physicians some of the greatest medical
practitioners-medical and surgical-ir
the world.
Distinguished Physicians Free
| Anv moor man. woman or child can go
into a London hospital and be attended
tby the kings own physicians-Sir
Thomas Barlow, Sir Frederick Treves,
and others-absolutely free of charge.
Operations which in private practice
would involve thousands of dollars are
performed daily in many London hos
pitfalls by physicians who never charge
less than $500 as private consultation
fee 1t is owing to this fact that Eng
/ lands finest doctors and surgeons attend
these hospitals for nothing that the in
terests of the poor have to be safe
guarded.
In order to do this most of the hospitals
have adopted the system of requiring let
ters from every patient who seeks any
treatment that is likely to involve seri-
Gus consequences. Of course, those
whose poverty is beyond question nnu
ready and immediate access to- any OF
the hospitals, and their treatment costs
nothing. The middle classes, however,
and the fairly well to do must be recon-
mended by someone who contributes TO
the hospital funds before they can re-
ceive treatment
AS a general rule outside of every Lon
don hospital is posted conspicuous sign
announcing the fact that treatment is
| for the poor only" and advising peopie
who can afford to pay to be attended
privately. Naturally If some such reg
uIation were not made the rich would
flock to the hospitals in order to obtain
assistance from the famous doctors who
give their services freely in the cause OF
charity.
A man with appendicitis, for instance,
who might not have overmuch confidence
in his family doctor would not object
to going into the East London hospital
in the Whitechapel district and being
treated by Sir Frederick Treyes.
Inducements to Donors
In order to encourage the general public
to take an interest in the hospitals vari-
tous sums are mentioned for the donation
lists which entitle givers to certain privi-
leges For instance, on payment OF
$4,000 to a London hospital the giver
is. as a rule, entitled to have ward
named after him; while donation OF
$4,000 entities one to endow cot Even
payment of $25 allows the donor to name
three or four patients for treatment at
the particular hospital to which the
money has been contributed. The sum
of $3.50 includes the privilege Of being a
life governor to a hospital, to attend
a,
twenty-four out-patients and one in
patient year.
BY this elaborate system of donation
the London hospitals are kept going from
year to year. Once every year two days
are set apart when the whole of London
is supposed to contribute something to
ward the care of the sick. These days
are hospital Sunday and hospital Satur-
day. All the churches on the first named
day give the major portions of their
collections to the hospitals, and on Hos
pital Saturday collections are made in the
streets Even the pennies of the multi
tude are eagerly accepted, On hospital
Sunday and Saturday in London the pub
lie gives generously to the fund that goes
to help the suffering poor. Upward of
$25O,00O has been collected In one year in
this manner.
Aided by Royal Fund
Another great source of income to the
London hospitals, and which also come
under the head of voluntary contrbu-
tions.' are the sums raised by what is
known as King Edwards hospital fund
for London. 1t is to this fund that
Carnegie has just given his 100000. Last
year. the total income of this fund was
$554,77o.
This fund was founded by King Id