The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-02
DOCTORS AND THEIR So
CALLED MEDICAL "ETHICS"
Tampa Tribune.


Now that the peculiar and some
times elastic standard of profession
al ethics" is being invoked by our To-
car medical association to rebuke
member who was made the subject
OF news story in a local newspaper
there is an Awakening of interest in
TINS question and we hear frequent
discussions of what may be consider
ed advertising and what not adver-
Using to degree offensive to the said
standard of professional ethics"
II we are to accept 1t as the pro-
fessional dictum that all manner Of
advertising and everything smacking
of advertising of or by a physician
is unprofessional and unethical, we
ind ourselves in pretty pickle, so
TO speak. The mention of a PERSONS
name in newspaper is advertising
that person, either favorably or unfav-
orably, as the case may be. And,
II the persons profession or business
is indicated in the mention of his
name, the advertising emphasis is in
creased. Thus when we print "Dr.
Brown" we advertise the fact that
Brown" is doctor, that the practice
Of medicine is his profession or bust
ness. his means of livelihood. to ex-
actly the same extent as when we
Brown or Editor Brown" The ad-
vertisement is there.
The idea was put into practice by
an Ohio editor several years ago and
produced interesting results. The
medical society of his town had COM
planned about the use Of physicians
names in news stories, objectfng that
such use was advertising and there
fore contrary to the ethics of the pro-
fession. The editor thereupon issued
to the members of his staff, the fol-
lowing instructing:
Members of the medical society
having protested against advertising
their business, it will be henceforth
n rule of this paper that whenever
it is necessary in conveying the news
to mention the name of a physician
he is under no circumstances to be
styled DR. which is in itself an ad-
vertisement, but always Mr., which
we trust will be entirely unobjectton-
able from an ethical standpoint"
And the paper put this rule into
immediate effect, with the result that
there was howl of most distressing
proportions of every Doctor who
was alluded to as Mister whenever
his name was printed
And yet the Ohio editor was COM
plying, in the strictest sense, with
the request of the esteemed physi-
clans. He was eliminating everything
that could be construed as an adver-
tisement of the profession in which
they were engaged. And, for that
matter, the mere sign on doctors
door is an advertisement that he is in
the medical business, and that that is
his place of business. so, where ana
how is the line to be drawn?
We might ask how is the world and
the rest of the medical profession to
become acquainted with notable and
beneficial discoveries in the science OF
medicine, if the strict rule of no ad-
vertising is to be complied with? II
the name of the discoverer cannot be
used in the public prints and the ben
etits of his discovery heralded to the
world, of what effect would 1t be and
whose good outside of his immediate
circle of mountaineering would be
served?
In yesterdays Tribune was an As
ISOLATED Press dispatch telling of
valuable discovery in the treatment
of typhoid fever, made BY Or. car
son, of San Francisco. If Br. carson
observed the strict ethical rule OF DIS
profession, he would have kept his
discovery an absolute secret and pre-
vented it's publication for the oenenI
and information of others of his pro-
fession and of the world in general
Because as construed by medical So
cieties. the publication of DR. Carson's
discovery, coupled with his name, con-
stitutes an advertisement of DIR. Car
son and, as such, is utterly repulslVe
and grossly violative of the ethlcs
of the profession
BY the same rule the world would
never have heard of the wonderful
researche and discoveries OF koch
and Pasteur, of Long and Lorenz, or
of those other great pioneers IN meol-
cal and surgical investigation who
have broadened the scope Of sclentlac
possibilities and brought to the heal
ing Of human ills the practical results
of their patient labors. Were these
great physicians unethical because
they permitted the knowledge of their
achievements to be disseminated
through the medium of imperishable
type?
When we sift it to the bottom, there
is much hypocrisy and much simple
nonsense in, this pro-
fessional ethics" And as far as the
are concerned, while they |
are always respectful of professional |
wishes and ideas, they doubtless VIII |
continue to print the news as they see
it, because they are serving the pun
lic-and the public, as a general rAe'
in its desire. for information as TO
What is going on. doesn't care a hang
about "ethics" or the absence Or
"ethics."
Monday is bargain day at