Evening star., 1921-08-09
Editorial Digest
Regulating Robin Hood, M. D.

Regulating Robin Hood, M. D.
When the trustees Of Johns Hopkins
fixed the maximum charge for an opera
I ton at 81 900 their action met with little
sympathy from the lay: press of the
seem to feel. with the New York Tri-
bune. that 1.-THE statutes of the medical
code" which cause the doctors to charge
according t.. the patients ability to pay
| ARE born of q similar feeling to that
which made Robin Hoods memory long
cherished in rural England because he
| took from the fat to give to the lean"
Some newspapers. Of course, sympathtxe
with the viewpoint of the officers Of the
great hospital. among them the Balti-
more Sun, which declares:
The fact remains that the limitation
OF fees as instituted at Johns Hopkins
Hospital is felt by it's chiefs to be in
line with the highest obligations Of the
expression of the spirit of the hospital
whose purposes no one can avoid
praising In the highest terms"
Taking into consideration the great
kins' surgical experts. the Baltimore
News feels that 'it is challenging eco
nomic law to assert that they over
charge. and Just as long as the pres
t'ge OF Johns Hopkins Hospital and the
prestige OF its specialists are inseparable
| one falls to see how the standards set
by tie one can fail Of acceptance Of the
other wherever they might incline to
| take their practice
The New York Herald looks at the
question quite differently. disregard
| ing the economic principles" which.
| 1t says. do not govern relief of hu-
| man suffering" declaring that the
| present system enables many sur
geons to continue their free work
| where. were the fees they collect from
rich men limited. they might be
| obliged to abandon It." The present
| method under which the surgeon av-
\ erages "a fair recompense for his in
dispensable services" most people
Pittsburgh Gazette-Times believes.
| Arguing that the 'surcharge" for
| services to the very rich makes pos
| sible downward adjustment where
there is lack of funds" the Philadel-
| phia Bulletin looks upon the hard
as ''superf1uous'' and simply another
freak of the modern rage for regu-
| lation from which the medical pro-
| fession. above all others. might be
spared" The Philadelphia Public
| Ledger also objects to the principle Of
| the physician and the surgeon will
| resent" is that this promunciamento
| will give new vigor to proposed legis-
lation here and there that seeks to
| nX tneS ices LOT pTOIcBBlOnhl services
| and prescriptions"
The Newark News presents the
practical argument that there is an
overhead" that a surgeon must take
care of that the layman often forEets,
for there are operations for which
$1,000 fee may mean actual finan-
ciai loss. with the wage of assist
ants and the purchase of costly in
struments to account for 1t con-
| tinues:
! ut would be only the occasional
patient. the 'windfall.' who could pay
| costs and add fee that would fifty
recompense the skill. the expert
knowledge. the actual recreative
ability Of the surgeons who restore
woman who. without his interven
tion. was practically. doomed to an
asylum or the grave"
| That a change may lead to condi
| tions worse rather than better is the
feeling of the Charleson News and
public has been the chief beneficiary
| under the present system. says the
latter, .and the public may we'll be
suspicious of i'll results following
nal is one Of those newspapers which
see reason and Justice" in the new
ruling. for. while the poor must
| have their surgical attention whether
| it Is paid for or not, still 1T seems
unfair for a patient to be charged
according to the size of his pocket
book and not for the value and i'm
! portance of the work performed"
| The Birmingham News. too. adds it's
commendation to the establishing of
| code Of economic morals for hos
pital physicians" for 1t considers it
"a dangerous and demoralizing Sit
| uation which permits patient to
| give and a surgeon to receive, say.
five to ten thousand dollars for an
operation" when that sum is suffi-
cient to provide for the care of a
hundred victims unable to pay for
relief.
The drastic action" of the Johns
Hopkins board. the New Orleans
Times-Picayune declares, "csn only
have been brought about by very
serious and possibly very many com
plants against gouging." but 1t fears
that it will result. as Similar ruling
| has in other fields, in making the
maximum price established by law
"become a minimum or standard
price fixed by the trade" However.
| it concludes. "it is well to know that
| the game is being played with some
kind of limit. even il the blue chip
does represent thousand dollars"