DOCTOR AND PATIENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 84, 6 October 1941, Page 6

DOCTOR AND PATIENT

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Mr. KTashi in the House on Thursday, stated' in effect" that there would be no risk of the confidential relationship between doctor and patient being endangered.' I suggest that this is a very serious defect and danger in the legislation which has not" been sufficiently emphasised. The 2000-year-old Hippocratic oath—which has been an unwritten law of the'medical pro-, fession through the . ages—states, in part: "Whatsoever I shall see. or hear in the course of my .profession . . . if it be what should'not be published abroad . . . I will never divulge, holding such things to. be holy secrets." Do; the people of New Zealand,, who so very often make of their doctor a confidential/trusted, and experienced friend, realise that If they avail themselves .of this legislation their confidence in part must be betrayed to a host of clerks and officials? The Government would quite ! justifiably, re; quire some check on all claims made— the patient's name,, address, reason for consultation. . It would not, under the j circumstances, be surprising if false names, etc., were given, and it could not be expected that the doctor would always be able to guarantee their correctness. The peregrinating patient who "enjoys'bad health" would certainly appreciate the Act, but at what a cost to the taxpayer.—l am, etc., B.J.D.' ,