QUACK DOCTORS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 13

QUACK DOCTORS.

REMARKABLE GOVERNMENT REPORT. Astonishing statements concerning th# ' multitude of unqualified medical prac-' titioners and .their treatment of patients sirs contained in a. Blue Book issued a , few weeks ago embodying the result of' inquiries made by the British Local: Government Board at the request of the Lord President of the Council. Information has been obtained from 1600 medical oflioers of health in various parts of the United Iviiigdom. Of tho towns reported on,. unqualified' practice is increasing in eighty-two', in, seventy-five it exists to some extent, in .hfly-seven there is little, while in only thirty towns is it stated'that unqualified practice docs not exist. Smallpox treated J simple skin disease by a herbalist, diphtheria diagnosed as mumps, and the patients not isolated, scarlet fever spread through being diagnosed as "rose rash," and measles treated as consumption are some of the cas:s described in the report. Prescribing by chemists is stated to ba, Jo common as to be practically universal' throughout the country. While in the mam they confine their attention to'the-so-called minor ailments, and advise Patients to consult a doctor in the more difficult cases, the. evidence shows, that a large amount of prescribing- in what' eventually proves to be disease of ." a graver tharacter also takes place: The treatment of infants' diseases -by - chemists is regarded as having soma bearing on infant mortality. CRITICISM. OF HERBALISTS. are severely criticised"Herbalists may bo " concerned in. the spread of epidemics of infectious diseases. .During a. smallpox epidemic an \- ointment was extensively sola which, it was claimed, would cure" smallpox. The vendor was prosecuted for spreading the. disease by this means. Wrong diagnosis and consequent mistaken treatment are' also responsible, for spreading infectious disease. In one case smallpox was spread; through treatment as chicken-pox. "Cough . mixtures are prescribed bj\ herbalists indiscriminately for respira-j. Tory diseases, which may really be tuber-. culosis or chronic phthisis, and the delay - ! entailed by such treatment seriously, diminishes the chanoes of cure." ; Attention is called to the "irretrievablei harm" done by bonesetta-s. "The mens ■ who set up as bonesetters are drawn: largely from the working-class population, such as carriers, railway portors, 1 . and the like, and in. many cases they are illiterate and uneducated. Some have , learnt what knowledge they possess frorn'i ambulaniio. associations. Those bon'e-i j setters who undertake minor surgical] / cases only do a relatively small amount' ■ , of harm, though instances of disastrous' results are. reported. But the greater' . number of bonesetters undertake more • complicated cases. Dislocations are treat-/ ed without being reduced, and permau-. r ent, disablement sometimes results." I■■ y. Several instances of actual harm causedf ■ by taking patent ; medicines are'.mention-i • <kl. One medical officer reports that oa' three separate occasions. during the last year he has'treated cases of supposed,-, scarlet fever in which the rash and l symptoms were found to be due to the action of certain kidney pills. It is gested that the composition of all a&v vertised remedies should be stated,