Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-25
PHYSICIANS STUDY
DiAGNOSTIC CLINIC
PROJECT FOR D. C.


| Continued From First Page)
ment to meet the preliminary costs and
the physicians interested would not
consider starting on q shoe-string. but
would require a good location, plenty
Of room, and the best up-to-d date equip
ment.
They expect the support Of all the
general practitioners in Washington for
whom they would render a service and
at IN. same time leave them their
patients.
No Place for Ordinary Patient.
Two classes of persons. physicians
interested in the clinic point out, now
can have their ills diagnosed in the
! light of the most recent findings in all
! fields of medicine. These are the very
rich who can pay as many specialists
as are necessary whatever fees are
asked without embarrassment, and the
very poor who can obtain free service
at VARIOUS hospitals. But there Is no
place in between for the ordinary man
or woman, too proud to accept charity
with all the loss of Self-respect that
goes with it and too poor to pay the
long list of specialists necessary to
obtain a full diagnosis. 1t Is to serve
these that the present clinic u pro-
posed.
At present there Is no institution In the
country organized exactly in this way.
The nearest approaches are such in
situations as that maintained by the
Mayo brothers and that at Johns Hop
kins University. The former is
private enterprise. It does q great
deal OF charity work and fixes its bills
according to the ability of the patient
to pay At the same time 1t does not
pretend to be other than business or.
! ganization. paying fair return. Be-
sides it would not usually be. consulted
at the time when accurate diagnosis
is most needed, with the first symp-
toms.
! The Johns Hopkins clinic does excel
, lent work. but has the drawback of
being attached to a hospital and edu-
cational institution. At present it is
the recourse of many Washingtonians!
, Its fee Is low, known in advance. and
not contingent on the difficulty Of the
case. But 1t could not attend to the
numerous cases requiring the diagnoStic
services of a group of specialists. 1t
is heavily endowed, and hence cannot
be taken as a model for the much
needed city clinics.
In working out their preliminary
plans, the group Of physicians inter-
ested in the project have carefully
avoided any suggestion of a tie-up
with any local hospital or educational
institution. They wish to make it a
thoroughly civic enterprise, admins
1t would be open to all persons. The
patient awaiting himself of its services
would not be accepting charity, or
placing himself on exhibit. No city
has anything of the kind at present
and the result Is that thousands Of
persons are not receiving any benefit
by the great progress of medical science.
| Not Open to Rich.
Washington has q number of private
diagnostic clinics, competently adj
ministered and with some of the coun-
try'S foremost specialists on their
STATS. They treat two kinds of pa
tients, those who can pay and those
who cannot They would still keep
the former, for the services of the pro-
posed diagnostic clinic would not be
available to the well-to-do. The others
they now treat as duty enjoined by
medical ethics and give them just as
good service as they give the million
aire-but they would be relieved Of
this necessity under the new plan.
The National Capital, it Is pointed
out. is the proper place for such a
clinic to be organized as a model for
the rest of the country. Here are To-
! Gated some of the worlds foremost
specialists. who have sienified that they
would be glad to cooperate because
of their interest in the proposal and
their sense of the medical mans duty
to the public. In addition. this city has
unexcelled medical laboratories and
libraries. 1t is expected that such a
clinic would bring to Washington de-
serving patients from all this part of
the country because of these facilities
The physicians have agreed among
themselves as to the need Of the clinic,
but hitherto they have had no means
of ascertaining the reaction Of the gen.
eral public, especially the large army
of moderately paid workers here, who
would be the chief benehciaries. They
would appreciate any comments on the
proposal, which may be addressed to
them through The Evening Star.
Function Illustrated.
The function of such q clinic was
illustrated by one physician today as
follows:
"A few hours ago had girl come
lLltU MY OAiSC VA " AiSs'N
ache.
my first examination showed that
her blood pressure was below normal.
That was all that I could find wrong
with her. and diagnosed the case on
this evidence. gave her some medi-
cine, which probably will relieve the
headache, and II my diagnosis was cor
rect, may stop 1t altogether.
But supposing 1t doesn't. don't
know that my diagnosis was correct.
She may be back again in a few days,
and the only proper procedure will be
TO send her TO q specialist. There may
be some underlying condition which will
get worse and worse.
Now nobody knows what 1t might
cost her to find out the actual cause
of this girls headache. Such prob
lem would be solved instantly II we
had such an institution as the pro-
posed clinic
The physicians interested are consid-
ering the proposition purely from an al
truistic viewpoint and do not desire to
| have their names come before the pub
Tic until such time as they have some
indication as to whether the cljRic
would be welcomed and whether The
need is such as to justify undertaking
the necessary financial arrangements
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