THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
DOURMASHKIN, R.
THE MEDICAL PROFBBSION A Reply to De Witt's Criticism ByR.DOURMASHKIN.M.I Tk* folUnving rtply to a ref» #•«« to Ikt medical profrttion whi app«a[$<i in tKi Chatterbox <i ago pretent$ the...
...So great is the tension of the medicsl student's life, that leaders in medliwl education have recently started a movement to curtail the college curriculum so as to give the student more time for rest and play...
...With the affiliation of the Washington State Federation of Labor, Mrs...
...Burnham tpoke before the annual convention of the Waihington State Federation of Labor, and so impresied were the delegates with her pica for protection of workers' health by the unions that they voto<i to affillste the Federstion with the Buresu which Mrs...
...The fact remain* that the first American to lay down his life In the great atniggle was a medical man, and that thousands of workers made tick or crippled by war were returned to their homes and made useful members of society through the efforts and ekill of medical men...
...Burnhsm is cslling this neglect sf Stats protection to the altenfion »f the trade unions...
...Icsd poisoning, snd other ncru-' fitionsi diseaisi csused by dsngsr-' I werkinx conditions...
...Has he m*t the American physician at the great medical congresses...
...I ( I > r 1 and he cites the names of two phy sicians...
...De Witt admiti generously that there are a few honest and able men in the medical profession...
...There are no Workmen's (!»nipvnsatlon laws for orcupalional di.Tnses l^he Northwest...
...muU unite for protection on (hs job against industrial tuhercu^s...
...Stories were told about the miraculoua powers of the visitor to accomplish something that the American sur geons could not do, and as a result of this publicity thousamis of unfortunates have flocked to him only to we their hopes shattered to pieces...
...he goes on, the vaat array of facta pertaining lo health and disease is presented to him in theory and practice in a way that allowa of no spare time for leisure...
...At least this pronWon Is due workers who pny the price of exposure to trade dsiigers...
...Orcgnii imd California, expects to line up other affiliations...
...J would like to know of one druggist, sure enough In the Bronx, who can get away with that And yet keep his doors open...
...Btirnham, who is continuing hor spcHkiiiR tour throiicli the states of WashinKton...
...Trade l.'nlnns...
...De medical me book or a b the records children wer nity by aimil family physicii the hospital rt food for thou surgicsl procei taperts t^ ^^ b!) sad '•J* iwocent a*» » Broax wImss ^ ^ furUsr litiiatioa a NMovsd ta • 'J??* HotUa...
...Mrs...
...FVom time immemorial he was known to be so...
...Grace Burnhanu director of the Workers' Kealth Bureau, 799 Broadway, New York City, who itf now making a tour of that section of the country...
...De Witt speaks is a product of imagination poisoned with hatred and intolerance the like of which I neve* heard anywhere nor read in jJrint He narrates how the same prescription (as a matter of getleral practice), which was formerly written by the family physician and charged by the druggist $1.26, is Ister chsrged 112.50 merely because a specialist hss issued it I wish to challenge Mr...
...Burnhsm i.t representing...
...The "gossipy neighborhood specialist" of which Mr...
...The laundry workert of Seattle hsve ssked her help In drswing up a health agreement with thsir employers...
...A medical specialist, becau.^e of the nature of his work, sure enough a beginner, depends largely on the work referred to him by his colleagues, who are the sole judges of his qualifications...
...On« of them is now dead the other one is a celebrated Aus...
...business" snd •mUU ni* indu vpry mall Mr the dren fate is mad" utates there bunk fr tots in medicine Witt: Su immedist throat the timely snd admi averts cert written his to Mr...
...Mrs...
...De Witt then turns his guns on the specialists...
...AtUlsalMi Is frM...
...It is evident that Mr...
...Is not the utter lack of knowledge of the true facts manifested In the following portrayal of the medical student's life, as given by Mr...
...De Witt to show me a single Instance where this hss occurred, and I shall be willing to be the en tire expense of an election campaign for any office he may chpose to nin this coming fall...
...Coming as it wan fror the pen of a Socialist, .sup posedly a liberal minded mar whose training and educatio: should include the knowledg of the various economic group ings in our society, this be smirching of a class of intel lectual workers, numberini over 100,000 in the Unite( States, cannot remain unchal Jenged...
...Hays and Coleman To' Discuss Scopes Trial at Rand School The Scopes Trial and its lignlficance iho first •klrmiih in ¦ renewed tirugiU for freedom of thought and Isacbing in th« United Slatei will b* Ih* lubject for contiderallon •( ¦ meeting to be held in the Rand School, 7 Eaat ISiL ilreet, Mondar, August 3. at 8:30 p. m. Arthur Garfield Hays, of counsel (or the Scopes defense, and McAlitler CoUmaa, who eevared iba Dajrten trial (or The New Leader, ara baoksd la •peah...
...Ntve tk^Utt, we are jlad to give tpai to thU preeenlation although it mi • too tertoutly the lighter rri in which Comrade I)e H wrot IT is with great amazemei that I read in the columns c The New Leader an article b S. A. De Witt, in which a mos vicious and unfair attack i made upon the medical profe!' sion...
...Burnhsm spoke before locals of the painters, laundry workers culinary workers snd other industries in the SUte of Washington...
...Canaral discVMion will fslUw...
...De Witt know that since Loreni dc.^cribed his npcrstion, surgeons all over the world were performing similar operations, and that in this country we have many celebrated orthopedists whose knowledge and skill even surpas-ies that of the surgeon who came under his kind grace...
...He begins with the drilling in anatomy, chemistry, physiology, bacteriology and other aubJecta which require hard study and long laboratory hours...
...He never heard of them because medical ethics prohibits the use of bunk newspaper publicity and press-agent stunts in order that public notoriety may be gained...
...Alnsady the Northwc.^t Puintcrs' Conference ami various painters' locals I:: Washington nnd Iduhci hove Joined the Worker'" Health Hiin-au, and Mrs...
...Life in medical colleges is • matter of iurvlval of the fltteat and it i« only the ableat and the hardest working atadent that emerge* victorious...
...plugging begins...
...The Hardest Woriuif Studant The hardest working student in the world i> the medical student...
...Ds »*M dear in hia . asvalops a sore Ual>y physicisn by lOlpWw of diphtheria of anti-toxin . »»ould he have _ t Ut me suggest itt, "fco accuses the s( resding lars, to go through tai tut how many iTsd ia his commutorflUsnce of the Mkhn 10 through •ad find out as th« life-saving , sf limbs restored, sgonies^aawDsrated...
...arf tkair groUsque «ik Mr...
...free clinics and the hospitals, who bears the drudgery of general practice, the abusm of his patients, the night calls, the climbing of itsirs until old sge, and dies generslly without leaving a cent to his name except the insurance policy and unpsid bills—is pictured as the greedy, incompetent individual srhose "entire life it wrapped in the making of financial marriages, swell rronts and big (sic...
...Wt art atturtd by Coi rwU De that hr had no t Untion of reflecting upon romp (rat pkyeieiane when he wrote i h» did, but that hit attention ht been called by teveral phytiriai to the amount of harm that it dot by a minority 0/ quackt...
...According to his keen oboervation, all a physican has 10 do to become a specialist is to take a trip tp Kurope and on his return charge his patients 150 for a "hand shake...
...Let him delve into (ks Bi^'e*' literature and learn o|tfce wenderful almost unbelievabli p^fRM made In all of the many braathes of the medical sciense wltkin the last decade or so, thanlp to the efforts of the thoussndfc sltkough un known to the layitan, cHWIaiis as well as the laboralsry wsrkers...
...Does Mr...
...True enough, Mr...
...He apcnds • full day in college, clinics and hospitcU, and when he get* home the rem...
...Mrs...
...Df Witt's remarka are bas>ec upon total unfamiliarity with th< true conditions that exist i/l thi medical profeDsion, and his mudsllnirinK i* interwoven with so many braxen untruths that one would even hesitate whether they ahould be contradicted at all...
...S«nric«i in WW-Tim May I aik Mr...
...De Witt probably never heard of them, as he never heard of thousands of other medical men In America, whose brilliant contributions to the progress of the medical «rience are rapidly placing thia country in the lead of medical thought and education the world over...
...Burnham sUtes, it is snticlpstcd that a strong drive will now be made for health protection for workers In dangerous trades throughout Northwest territory...
...ISO per Handshaks" Mr...
...This statement, untrue on its own face, smscks of the same unfainilisrity which hss characterized bis description of the medical student's life...
...De Witt w;iere outside the "Bronx civilication" has he met the American medical menT JIaa he met them (as the writer did) during the World War when thooaanda of medical men (above the dnift age) left their fire pUcM, their wives and their children to endure the hardships and the hazarda of w<r7 It Is Immaterial whether thefr motives were patriotic or purely altruistic...
...De Witt: "full-fledged gen eral practitioners In Materia Medics are made in a half-dozen years of vacationing, Isnnit and pinocKU a t 1 I i I plajriag, and ••¦¦¦.¦¦¦ual cscBiiBa liMt...
...1 Upon graduation the young physician buHes himself in the strenuous work of the hospital interne, which permits but s few spsre moments for relaxation...
...Mri Burnham also inspected the lumber camps out of Portland, Oregon, at the request of the Hotel and ResUursnt Employes' Internstlonal Alllsnce...
...De Witt's knowledge of the medical world is gleaned from a few personal acquaintances, but it is on the personal character and honesty of the entire "crop of the American medical men," whom he further characterizes as the "inadequately fitted pertonalitiea" and "the cra»y patch-work of quackery and outright gree," that he is Ia»hinr with venom, narrow-minded prejudice and a hatred, in comparifOTt to which the religious bigotry and Intolerance which brought forth the Tennessee trial is a story of brotherly love...
...His life is crowded with the atudy of subjects that are no light reading and ia difficult of memorizing...
...THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN THE NORTHWEST The trade unions of the Northwest are waking up to the great need for protection of workers' health in the ijndustrieB, and are uniting for a real campaign on this issue, according to Mrs...
...THE MEDICAL PROFBBSION A Reply to De Witt's Criticism ByR.DOURMASHKIN.M.I Tk* folUnving rtply to a ref» #•«« to Ikt medical profrttion whi app«a[$<i in tKi Chatterbox <i ago pretent$ the tthim of ti profttiion...
...Has he studied, as an economist should do, their work, their accomplishment^ their philosophy, and last but not the least their economic status, that he assumes the aulhorr Ity of besmirching with one stroke of his pen their character, their honesty and inteirrity...
...A good many of na worked their way through the eollege while others spent their summer vacations substituting in hospitals...
...Tb« Family PhjfMdMI But H is the fsmily physicisn, "the three-buck s visit" medico, thst Is subjected to the fiersest sttsck...
...He, who to the millions is the true friend, the morsl adviser, he who is ever willing to give his helping hand and stands by hia patient through thick and thin, brings the little ones into this world and guides them until they are big and strong enough through the ravages of scarlet fever, measles and diphtheria epidemics, he who never csaaes to worry whils hit patient is 111 and Is rsdiant with joy when the crisis is over, ha whose average income i« probably less than that of an/ othsr professional man with the exception of the teacher, he who is constantly underpaid or is expected not to be paid at all for many of his services, and whose uncollected bills hsvs become proverbial, he who is expected to ^ive away a gr«at desl of his time to charity work in the...
...When I entered eollege my claas numbered 205 students and out of this number only 92 stood the test of medi'eal study and graduated...
...trian orthopedic surgeon, who som« twenty odd years ago restored the use of limb.i in a daughter of a Chirago meat-king, and whuse recent visit to this country has given rise to the mon misleading and absurd newspaper publicity...
Vol. 2 • August 1925 • No. 31
