DOCTORS' FIELD DAV.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1131, 19 May 1911, Page 5

DOCTORS' FI ELD DAV.

■' ■ _^—$- _. ■ COST OF A RAILWAY DISASTER. By Telceraph— Press Assor.iation-Copyricrnt Melbourne, Mny 18. Medical attention, in connection with tbo Richmond railway disaster cost the Department £16,699.. A CANDID MEDICAL MAN. ; The Richmond railway disaster of last year cost the Victorian Government X 127,. 229 in all, or <£l. r j96 more than that 1 at Sunshine, although its death roll was not one-fourth as neavy, and fewer of the injuries were recorded as "serious." When the figures were published nt tho end of last month there was much comment in Victoria on the item, "Medical, legal, etc., £ld,ili,'' which amounted to nearly 20 per cent, of the whole. The Melbourne "Age," in commenting on the matter, said: "The astonishing amount of .£20,000 paid for professional services in connection with tho Richmond railway disaster has an amusing site.' This is tho frankness with which, some medical men speak of their interest in the item. 'It is all verv well to gape at the amount,' said a well-known eastern suburban doctor on , Saturday. 'Remember that a railway accident affords the only chanco wo get of getting something from. the. Government. Tho Department requires us to give evidence t> t inquests and in court for £\ Is., which is no good to a busy doctor, considering the time it takes to Ret to tho morgue or the court. Go we take tho chance of getting back at them. I had four cases connect cd with the Richmond accident. I charged as much as a Collins Street doctor, and why not? AVhy should the Government pay more to a Collins Street doctor than to a suburban doctor ? Each case had to bo s?en by mp in consultation with a, doctor representing the Commissioners. I charged two cuineas for each consultation, with mileage expenses. Then, al medical men . make it a rule to attend twice as often on n patient whos& illness may be' the subject of litigation than on one who has called the doctor in tho ordinary way. We do this, not so that 'we can pile ud a big bill, but becanso we have to take extra care, as all sorts of questions may be fired off at us if the case (?ocs to court. .So.you can fee how the bills mount -up. And the Department has to pay. I- knew a suburban doctor .who worked nil night after the Sunshine accident, difficult, strenuous, and nasty work. The Department offered him .CIS for his night's work, but ho asked fot .£SO, and. of course, tho Department had to pay.'"