The Detroit times., 1916-09-20
The Lesson From
Infantile PARALYSIS
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

Inc ehtre united states today is in
terested in the strange outbreak of in
fantile paralysis in New York.
IL Is one of those severe blows that
the Ruler of the universe inflicts upon
men-because of their sins we used to
say; because of their ignorance and stub
bornness and laziness, we say now:
though perhaps both reasons amount to
the same
What is our sin?
If we can find out what it is and Quit
1t, we can be saved.
We found out what was the matter in
Panama, abated the mosquito, and abol-
ished the plague.
The medieval world was periodically
devastated by various pests, red death,
black death, and cholera.
How did we estop them?
Plaques have never been done away
with save by one means.
And that is-concerted action.
The most salient truth in modern med
icine is that disease is not an individual
but social affair.
The only way for me to keep healthy
is to make everybody around me healthy.
In the realm of diseases, at least, mo
man liveth or dieth unto himself"
Typho in the sweatshop tenement
means death in the millionaire's nursery.
The diseased hobo in the street sends
his microbe emissaries to the Biltmore
and the Ritz.
In disease, if nowhere else, we are
5rothers--'all one body we."
Think rignt to the bottom of this mat
-eiF. -eF, therefore, and Ynu must reach but
one conclusion, to-wit: That health is
public business, disease a public calamity.
And the coIoilary OF this ought - pen
citrate our reason, to-wit That the med
ical profession should be a public and
not a private profession.
II is as absurd to have private doctors,
hired by individuals, as it would be to
have only private policemen or privately
employed soldiers.
Physicians ought to be public servants,
chosen by ard responsible to the public:
smallpox and poliomyelitis out of the
house in the slums as am in keeping it
out Of the flat building in which live.
Every human being, every man, wom-
an. and child, is entitled to the best med
ical treatment science can supply.
This system need not be forced on us
from government autocracy, but should
be secured by the intelligent cooperation
of the people, by democratic methods.
For my own sake | ought to try to
bring it to pass that every person in my
nation should receive the best medical
attention.
The only way to secure this Is to make
medical attention to be without money
and without price to all.
And the only way to reach this end Is
to withdraw all medical practitioners
from the welter of competition and make
them Officers of the State
Says DR.. Joseph Krimsky: "The
world must awake to the realization that
the problem of preventive medicine, the
prevention of epidemics and plaques, can
only be solved by the State, using the in
dividual physician as its agent 1t needs
the combined efforts of radiologist, dag
nostician, clinician, surgeon and trained
nurse. 1t needs team work and super
vision. and all these essentials can be
secured, not in the dingy office of the av-
erage, poorly equipped, struggling keen
ly competitive, private physician, but in
the great, modern, efficient, highly
equipped hospital and clinic. The insti-
tuition, the outgrowth of industrial, me-
chanical and scientific advancement, must
be redeemed from the thraldom of char
ity. 1t must be thrown open to all that
require its services not alone for medical
and surgical treatment, but for the peri
odical examination of the apparently
healthy, in order to protect them against
insidious disease. 1t must be owned,
controlled, and supervised by the State,
and paid for by tax laid on rich and
poor, employer and employe."