The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters.
- Bowerbank, Lewis Q.
- Date:
- 1865
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
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![We hope that the Jamaica public are edified, and that thej^ will en- tertain a proper respect for a proi'cssion iii which the merabers so readily sacrilice each other to the public good. [To the Editor of the Medical Times.] Sir,—In an article in your journal of the 25th March, he added Colonial Medical Ethics, you have been pleased to make some comments on the proceedings at a Coroner's inquest held in this city on the body of Richard Bailey, who died in the Public Hospital after an operation for the removarof a broken catheter from the ure- thra, and in reference to the evidence given by the Medical witnesses at this inquiiy, you express an opinion that the antiquated code of Dr. Sangrado and Cuchillo still regulate Professional relations iu this quarter of the world. Admitting that Professional relations here are not so pacific as they might be, I can assure j'ou, nevertheless, that these are not so bad as you have been led to suppose ; but be that as it may, I have to remark that neither myself nor any of the eight Medical Practi- tioners who were examined at the inquest arc in any way responsi- ble for the Professional disagreements which have lately occurred.— These h ave a risen entirely from the extraordinary conduct of one individual, who, in relation to the Public Hospital, has for the last five or six years, set aside the civilities and courtesies of Pro- fessional life, and if you will take the trouble to refer to the publish- ed documentary testimony which I herewith transmit, you will not fail to perceive that it was ray determination to uphold the etiquette of the Profession against the assaults that were being made against it, which lately compelled me to throw up my appointment ot Sur- geon to the Hospital, and that it was the same feeling which actuat- ed my colleague, Dr. Dunn, in obliging him to refuse the continua- tion of his services as a medical officer of the institution. With regard to the conduct of myself and of the other practition- ers in the city v/ho gave evidence at the inquest on Richard Bailey, I have only to observe that neither I nor any of them are blameable for the unfortunate result of that inquiry. The inquest was demand- ed by the inspector of the hospital, and [, with all the members of the profession in the city, was summoned, by the Coroner to give evidence thereat. The testimony which was there adduced was no doubt damaging to Drs. Bowerbank and Anderson, the principal medical officers, but it was impossible for any medical witness who had due regard for his own professional reputation, and the sanctity of his oath, to help them out of their difficulty. What are the facts of Richard Bailey's case ? The patient, with- out any stricture or prostatic disease, but with a urethra sufficiently capacious to admit a No, 14 bougie, had a No. 2 catheter introduced into the bladder, and secured therein by tapes; there appears to have been considerable nneasinesa thereafter, and in some way or other the instrument was broken ; about four inches of it fell out, the remaining six and a-lialf inches remained iu the urethra and blad-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21297733_0023.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
