Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H.

  • Holmes, C.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ I believe the time lias arrived for putting an end to this baleful practice, and it appears to me, that as a measure of self- protection, we ought to call the attention of the authorities to cases where our neighbours injure the status of ourselves and the whole profession, by pursuing a course, which is in direct de- fiance of the orders, and regulations which they have undertaken to observe. “ I am, Sir, “ Yours faithfully, “August, 1877.” “An Ex-Poor-Law Medical Officer. At a Meeting of the General Medical Council, held June 28th, 1878, Sir Dominic Corrigan, inter alia, observed :—- “ There was one point on which the Council might have reported with advantage, namely,—the employment of unqualified assistants in England. One could not take up a single number of The Lancet without seeing numerous advertisements from unqualified assistants. Such advertisements did not state that the applicant was acquainted with the profession, but that he could “ride and drive well,” that being considered a sufficient recommendation.”* In order that we may be free from any imputation of par- tiality in the choice of the paragraphs we have selected, we will now attempt to ascertain the opinions entertained by Medical Officers themselves, in relation to this question. At a Meeting of the Poor-Law Medical Officers’ Association,f held July 3rd, 1877, Chairman,—Dr. Joseph Rogers :— “ The Chairman,—There is no question that we are not a popular body, either with the Guardians, the Local Government Board, or the public. Neither entertain any regard for us.” We are also enabled to give an extract from a letter recently received by us from a gentleman who has given a great amount of consideration to the interests of Poor-Law Medical Officers, without losing sight of the necessity of ensuring efficient atten- dance on the sick pauper :— “ I entirely agree with you as to the unfairness implied in the existing system, whereby unqualified assistants are employed to do the work of Poor-Law Medical Officers, and I can speak with some degree of authority, as I was for ten years the Medical Officer of the Union Workhouse, during which I had to keep, and pay for, qualified assistance. I have also been for some years Medical Officer to the Union Work- house, and have had to employ a qualified assistant. My out- * See Appendix, t See Appendix.