Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-08-25

U<A1o11ANG4 O4N-7SCLnGC11QE Ike a
year ago. quite a Juror was raised
here by the revela-
Roar OUcr ton that the Home
Hole Owners Loan cor
poration had
loaned So, 0Co ont of its own treas
ury to its employees who wanted to
organize q group which could hire
its own doctors On an annual basis.
This was public money, because the
Hole IS wholly owned by the fed
eral treasury and its function IS to
loan money on private homes to en-
courage home ownership. The
Group Health association, as it was
named, guaranteed medical treat
ment to its members for q fixed
annual fee and hired doctors to do
the job. Q
There was a roar from many
quarters at the time because of the
use of government money In this
manner, but the loudest roar came
from the doctors who are members
Of the District of Columbia Medi-
cal society. Few of US realized then,
I think, where this controversy was
going to lead. ! doubt that there
were very many persons expected
to see the tiny spark famed into
fame so large. Now, however, that
spark has become q national fame,
national issue of serious import. For
what could be more serious, indeed,
than a chance to live when the cold
fingers of death creep closer!
The issue as il is now defined. sue
cinctly, is whether the long ard hon.
orable history of the medical pro-
fession, and all of the scientific as
sets that this implies, shall be
thrown to the winds; whether, In
the place of that history and gain
and the services of those individual
doctors, there shall be created
new basic method, a procedure
where the doctors are hired by
corporation subsisting on the annual
fees paid by its members who win
telephone the corporation Offices and
say: send me one Of your best doc
tors. In short, as see If, the issue
u whether there is 10 be personal
lied, conscientious service or serv-
ice as lacking in personal interest as
III my tank, please" at the gaso-
line service station.
That IS the preface to the recent
legal proceedings by our own gov
eminent against the American Med
ical association and the District of
Columbia Medical society, which
are threatened with prosecution as
trust" The governments action,
Of course, makes the controversy
national issue, one which interests
all of US. The trust busting assist
ant attorney general, Thurman Ar
mold, former Yale professor, vows
he viii break UP the trust" which
- the national organization of doc
tors, but there are those Of US who
cannot help linking the corporation
method of medical practice with
Professor Arnold's blast and threats
against the doctors who believe IN
individual practice.
The whole department Of Justice
position strikes me as rather fuzzy,
rather asinine and, in some re-
spects, reprehensible. However, il
there Is to be complete analysis
made and q complete understanding
Of the situation obtained. il is nee
essary to know that President
Roosevelt wants it DONE" and Mr..
Arnold IS proceeding. II does not
seem to matter that there are only a
few medical crooks. only q few un-
ethical and interruptions medical
practitioners; the whole profession
must be attacked and DETAINED. Nor
does II seem Of great concern to the
prosecuting officials that some Of
those doctors who are promoting
corporation medicine throughout the
Unitmd States havn ham denind ad