HOSPITAL AND HONOUR

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 125, 23 November 1923, Page 6

HOSPITAL AND HONOUR

Officially a hospital is an institution for restoring the sick and maimed to health. Against its will, the Wellington Hospital has been purveying bad consciences.. But it is to be feared that the £70,000 of outstanding fees revealed at yesterday's meeting of the Board is not owed entirely by people who carry burdens of remorse. The system of collecting fees for hospital treatment is one that makes every allowance for inability to pay, and, as was remarked a few days ago in connection with Dr. Wilson's report, contrasts strongly with the American method of holding an inquisition upon the financial standing of patients before they are admitted. It is unfortunate that a system that avoids hardship in this way has to lay itself ojaen to victimisation by what Mr. C! H. Chapman called "artful dodgers," though probably they are often simple dodgers who need less art than thickness of skin. For a three years' accumulation, £70,000 in unpaid fees that the Board considers should not be written off is a reflection upon the ethics of the community. In many cases, no doubt, there may be found good reason for entering the Board's claims as bad debts ;"but this cannot be general; and Dr. J. K. Elliott's phrase that the Hospital is being abused is not too strong. "It *is a pity that people do not seem to have a finer sense of honesty in suoh matters," He said. Doctors do not commonly sue for their fees; and they have their reasonsBut those reasons do not apply in the same way to a Hospital Board, and a few prosecutions in cases where the abuse of a great public service has been flagrant would probably have a salutary effect.