An address on our duty to the consumptive breadearner : delivered to the Oxford and District and Reading and Upper Thames Branches of the British Medical Association, June 28th, 1901 / by Sir J. Burdon-Sanderson.

  • Burdon-Sanderson, John Scott, 1828-1905.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An address on our duty to the consumptive breadearner : delivered to the Oxford and District and Reading and Upper Thames Branches of the British Medical Association, June 28th, 1901 / by Sir J. Burdon-Sanderson. 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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    being universal, it would exclude toilers of the poorer class— those who in Germany chiefly benefit from the operation of compulsory insurance. It would, moreover, fail as a means of promoting the timely removal of phthisical breadearners from their homes and thus preventing the spread of phthisis among the overcrowded population of our towns. I have now come to the end of my task. I have placed before you the question of sanatoria for the sons and daugMers of toil with all its difliculties. I have endeavoured neither to over-estimate its drawbacks nor to exaggerate its advantages. The question is in the hands of the medical profession. In all matters which concern the bodily welfare of the people, our function is to furnish to those who are responsible for the government of the country guiding principles. With reference to the present subject an experiment on a very large scale has been made for us in Germany. It is our duty to examine into the results, not for the purpose of imita- ting or adopting German methods, but with the view of making up our minds on a question of principle. This question is whether on the one hand we should leave the consumptive breadearner to struggle against his disease as best he may, contenting ourselves with promoting sanitary improvement and prophylactic measures against contagion, or on the other hand should, without in the least disregarding these objects or relaxing our efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, strive to organise a plan for enabling him to make the best of his life and earning power. I venture to hope that this great question will be taken up by the approaching Congress and that the medical profession will be thereby awakened to its importance. Note and Reference. 1 Engelmann, Die deutsclien Lungenheilstatten auf der Weltausstel- lung, Zcitsclnift filr Tuberculose, etc., vol. i, p. 217. 2 For information as to the system of compulsory insurance see Diitlmann and Gebhard's Handausgcibe dcs JnvaUden-versicherungs-gesetees, Alteuburg, 1900.