Evening star., 1938-07-20

medical care in different parts OF tn
world, and unless you can give all O
the people good medical care you can
not temporize with an inferior and un
satisfactory quality of medical service.
Hurls Another Charge.
Raising the question as to whethe
the medical knowledge now availabl
was sufficient to 60 forward on basi
of such far-reaching program, Dr
Fishbein also asked what plans hav
been made to integrate the man,
private hospitals of the country
especially those built and operated
by religious bodies throughout tn
country.
He charged that the medical pro
fession apparently had been invited
to the conference not SO much TO
advice on how to work out the prob
lem as 10 sign its name to a pre-
| scription for relief" already written fo
the conference.
A gentle warning was sounded t.
the A. M. A. leaders by DR.. Osgood
Some of us have felt" declared tn,
distinguished member of the Com
mittee of Physicians, that neithe
the leaders Of the association nor tn,
rank and file of its members hay,
realized until recently the seriousness
OF the medical care situation OF oul
country nor the challenge which or
ganized medicine would be forced tt
meet =. Government and th<
public must help us. But if they tr!
to take away such independence O
action Of the physicians as is dictates
by their consciences We as physician
will fail them"
DR.. Osgood suggested the "possibl,
usefulness of a national health coun'
Gil, which would have no executive
power, but which should be asked t,
act in a purely advisory capacity IL
matters of health"
Parran Makes Address.
Action" is expected to come from
the conference according to a predic.
tion made to the American people by
radio last night in an address by DR.
Thomas Parran, Surgeon General ol
the United States Public Health Serv.
ice. who summarized the conference
from his point of view.
THE National Health Conference,
he predicted, may we'll be the greatest
event in medical science which ha.
happened in our time"
DR.. West last night warned of tn,
potential complexities in the situa
ton that will develop from an effor
to put the national health) plan init
operation"
L think We should have learned
lesson" he said, from what hap
pened to us on the basis Of far
reaching policies that were projected
so enthusiastically during another sit.
uation which in my opinion at least
was quite as artificial as the one
which now exists. I refer to the sit.
uation that existed when we were
supposed to be riding a high wave
of prosperity. which was just as arti-
f1cial, as see it, as the condition.
that exist today. And God knows
that some of the policies that were
projected at that time have GER
tainly gotten us into a terrible mess.
Political Control Seen.
The creation of a great system OF
sickness Insurance." he warned, will
eventually be controlled politically
and is going to result in the estab-
lishment of evils that in some par
ticulars will be far more Objectionable
and far more damaging than many
Of those which now exist.
There is no one plan for the pro-
vision of medical services that is 90
ing to operate successfully and sat-
isfactorily in all of the States and
counties and communities Of this Ma
tion, and I predict that you are go
ing to find it out before you have
gone very far"
The A. M. A. secretary reiterated
his previous declaration that the med
ical profession was interested in ex-
tending the benefits Of medical serv-
ice and good medical service to all
the people everywhere"
Firing back at DR.. West, Mr.. Press
man praised individual doctors for
their sacrifices, but declared II di-
rect my attack specifically at the
upper hierarchy of these medical as
sociations that simply refuse to give
adequate health to the people of this
country"
"Of course the individual doctors
have sacrificed themselves" he de-
clared, "and desire to sacrifice them
selves even further, but I have very
little patience with the more wealthy
doctors and the medical associations
who have an extensive practice and
who are not giving heed either to
the poor people who need the health
service or to the thousands Of doc
tors that have no patients and are
extremely anxious to give such sery-
ice."
Pictures Feeling Of Labor,
Warning that there were forces in
the States determined to defeat q
program that has been considered
here during the past two days." the
c. I. o. official declared it was the
feeling on the part of labor that mo
program for adequate health facilities
can possibly be administered unless