Evening star., 1953-02-05
Engineer.
Doctors at Crossroads

Once again our Nations doctors must
make highest policy decision. Speak
ing for organized medicine. the board
Of trustees Of our American Medical
Association had this to say of the
bipartisan report Of the Presidents
Commission on the Health Needs Of
the Nation: Without naming 1t. the
commission has described the welfare
state. It may be just as well to call it
by its true name, the socialist state"
AS Defendant No. Is in the historic
medical antitrust prosecution in 1910
I bitterly ask: Have we doctors learned
nothing about our Nations social
hungers and compulsions in over q dec
ade Of cataclysmic political changer"
am grateful to The Star for giving
me leadership in long fight to resist
the socialization Of my profession by
the bureaucratic state. When we were
criminally indicted in 1889 by New Deal
zealots who alleged violation Of the
Sherman Antitrust Act Of 1890. was
the only defendant these bully boys
tried to fine and jail. Following my
voluntary two-day appearance before
the special grand jury investigating
antitrust charges against organized
medicine, Star Reporter Harold B..
Rogers requested a statement. That
statement was published in The Sum
day Star under the title: Doctor Asks
Faith in His Profession in Medical
Dispute"
Early that Sunday morning, present
official of organized medicine called me
and asked: TON, why didn't you clear
that statement with our medical soci-
ety?" defended my right to speak
my convictions on any subject, without
any censorship whatsoever. The next
edition Of the Journal Of the ANA
gave its official blessing to my state
ment to The Star. Under the caption,
"For Free Profession" our official
organ published The Stars statement
verbatim and urged its widest publicity:
"Our objects are simple, and we be-
lieve self-justified. No matter what
method of medical practice is finally
evolved, common sense tells us that it
should embody all the safeguards and
guarantees which made us cherish the
old. First and foremost Is the un-
qualified right Of the patients to choose
their own doctor and determine the
conditions under which he may con-
tinue to serve them. The second. that
no subsidy Of taxpayers money be
given one group Of citizens which is
not available to every other citizen in
the same circumstances. Third, that
the doctor be obliged to compete for
his patients favor and patronage and
that his security be earned by merit
and not apportioned by political favor.
Fourth, and this is in the nature Of a
conclusion, that under no plea Of
emergency should the patient be per-
suaded to delegate the control Of medi-
cal practice to those who promise more
than reason and experience tell us they
can deliver. Whatever the faults Of the
present system Of medical care. it has
not added to the heavy burden the tax
payer must bear in generations to come.
It at least has the virtue Of paying its
own way" @%
Much water has passed over the dam
since those halcyon days. The corporate
defendants CANA and District Medical
Society were found guilty and their
conviction sustained by our Supreme
Court. The individual defendants were
found not guilty and went their way in
a world gone mad. Our ideals as public
servants remained our only beacon of
hope. We no longer believe that self
help and mutual assistance by sharing
common burdens is socialism. AS De-
fendant No. 13, would remind our
ANA that theological wars are not won
by intellectual thumb Neither
will name-calling stop or turn back the
clock Of history.
Thomas e. Mattingly, MD.