Evening star., 1930-06-25
DOCTOR HITS STATE
MEDICAL PRACTICE
Local Physician, New ASSo-
citation President, Talks
on PaternaliSm.
speclal plspateh to The star.

special Dispatch TO The Star.
DETROIT, June 25.--A vigorous
warning against the inroadS of State
paternalism in medicine was sounded by
DR.. William Gerry Morgan of Washing
ton, incoming president, in his in
augiral address before the American
Medical Association here last night.
There is worldwide trend sooner or
later bound TO strike the United States,
he said. for compulsory sickness inSur-
ance administered by the Government
with the physician reduced to the status
of State employe responsible for a
stated number of persons.
This system he declared, has received
the approval of the super -paternalistic
League of Nations" and since the be-
ginning was made by Germany in 1888
has been taken up in one way or an
other by Austria, Hungary, Norway,
Serbia, Great Britain, Rumania Rus
sia. Bulgaria Czechoslovakia, Portugal,
Poland, Japan, Greece, Chile, Lithuania
and France.
Originally, he said, it was a crafty
device of Prince Bismarck, who was
alarmed at the accumulation of funds
in the hands of the voluntary insur-
ance organizations of the German labor
activities against the state. So he pro-
ceeded to turn these funds 10 the state
itself and bind the workers more strong
ly to the capitalistic system which the
state represented.
Physician Does Paper Work.
Wherever it has been adopted, he
pointed out, the physician who has &C
cepted service In the State insurance
organization has lost his individuality,
spends much of his time in paper
sees from 80 to 100 patients a day, is
bound by strict regulations promulgated
by the insurance companies, and be-
comes q mere cog in the wheel.
His opposition to .paternalistic medi-
cine, DR.. Morgan said, Is not concerned
with the economic welfare of the medi-
cal profession, but with public health.
It results, he insisted. in less efficient
service, in manipulation by unscrupu-
lous lawyers, and in benefits for
"wastrelS and maligners," while honest
workers pay the bills and get little
benefit
Admitting that the cost of medical
care was increasing, DR.. Morgan said
that the medical profession as a whole
bears little of the responsibility for this.
Doctors bills amount to only about a
quarter of the annual bill for sickness.
THE public must see" he said. that
the doctor is not the Shylock some
would have us believe he is. If the
25 per cent OF the annual sickness bill
which comes into the Golfers Of the
doctors were entered in a column op-
posite what is annually spent by doctors
in free service in clinics, hospitals and
homes, a balance sheet certainly would
not leave the profession as a whole in
debt to the public.
Removes Careful Study.
I'VE are not willing" he continued,
ito see the entire population, with the
exception Of the rich. taken away from
the individual physician. whether he
be family doctor or specialist, and
turned over to the salaried doctor, who,
by virtue of the circumstances under
which he must render his service, will
not be able to devote to the individual
patient the careful study that may be
required. I have in mind the interest
OF the sick and not the bank account
of the doctor
THE list is long. and steadily grow
ing longer, of medical, quasi -medicaI
and plainly non medical agencies which
have for their object oversight directed
| toward the physical, mental, moral ol
emotional life of parents or their chill
dren. After looking over the list one
Is constrained to ask what has come
over our people that makes such over
sight necessary or possible"