Medical ethics : a lecture, delivered December 23, 1843, before the Ohio Medical Lyceum / by John P. Harrison.

  • Harrison, John P. (John Pollard), 1796-1849.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical ethics : a lecture, delivered December 23, 1843, before the Ohio Medical Lyceum / by John P. Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    not more than just sufficient to support their families, and school their children. But should we meet with a clergyman of wealth, or with one who abets quackery in any of its forms, or who unites the merchant, or lawyer, with the minister, we should let him know that we expect from him an equivalent for our labours. The families of deceased physicians, if labouring in any degree under the res avgustce domi, should never be charged for our services. As a general rule physicians are never to be held to the remuneration of our professional attendance either upon them- selves, or families. But if a gentleman has quit the practice of medicine, and is now engaged in another employment, we are not to be withheld from the requital due our services, on account of his previous occupation as a medical practitioner. There are some general reflections pertaining to this subject to which I now invite your attention. The practice of taking families by the year, so common in some parts of our country, is 1o be condemned. It leads to a process of cheapening of the value of our services in the com- munity. It is a kind of auction for medical attendance. It pro- duces a competition not favourable to the respectability of the faculty. It opens a wide door for the entrance of intrigue, un- derbidding, chaffering, and cheapening of the commodity, thus advertized, and made ready for the cry of the auctioneer. It is a nuisance that should be abated, a source of disparaging modes of getting business which should be annulled, and a temptation and snare of evil practices, that ought to be driven away from an honourable and dignified set of men. As we appreciate peace of mind, weight of professional repu- tation, and the charities of life, we should not engage without, the best grounded reasons, in newspaper controversy on medical subjects, or in personal vituperation with our brethren in the pro- fession. From the fierce encounters of this war of words few, none, escape unscathed. We may have the helmet of a Mars, the aegis of a minerva, and the sword of an Achilles, yet from this field we will come not unharmed—some straggling arrow from a bow drawn at a venture will pierce between the joints and the harness, and too late may we lament the indiscreet heroism which led to such an inglorious war. There are, however, some occasions which may legitimately draw out the physician to do battle in this tournament. What they are his own good sense must decide. But let us remember that when struggling with a professional adversary on the arena of newspaper controversy we are made the laughing stock, the sport, and jest, of a deriding world. It does not behoove the man who is conscious of Tectitude,