THE SIXPENNY DOCTOR.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 93, 1 April 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SIXPENNY DOCTOR.

The risk run by dodtors practicing in mean streets is the subject of a recent ’ article *in the London “Telegraph.” * ' . . Attention, says the writer, is inevitably directed to the lives of these medical practitioners, called up to undertake duties in sudh startling circumstances. The medical profession ■. has at all times contained heroic men who have flinched from no sacrifice, and from no danger, and ijn t&he mean streets of the Metropolis large numbers of them daily pursue their vocation unmindful of exteritols disdainful of dangers,' • and unconcerned' as to' consequences. If it be heroic to attend the haunts of low-class criminals, they are indeed heroic, for they never troubfe to inquire as to the nature of the house •they are caller! upon to visit, yet they will tell you there is no heroism in their work, and when they give their reasons, you admit they are right. So far ns the East End is concerned, the dodrors who practice there are agreed as to tbe law-abiding character or the residents. They will tell you there are desperadoes and criminals, but they are exceptions Jto the rule. But it is not in this that .the safety of hhe medical men lies. It is in the inlierent respect entertained by the inhabitants for men called in to combat i-ain and disease. The poor have a hard life. They are jiot given to exagg®rit«S' their ailmch'fgT' Dlhess is a luxury in which they tp indulge. When, therefore, they are constrained to call in medical aid', suffering has generally reached. an acute stage. The doctor is then regarded as a missioner ,xs well as a doctor, a messenger of hepe and mercy, as well as a carer of ailments. As such be is looked uppn almost with awe, and the respectful salutation he always receives is eloquent of the esteem- in which he is held.

Nor is it correct to assume that the practicet of East End doctors are unreufanerjitive. On the contrary, they are often the means by which handsome incomes are obtained. There is one well-known iirttance of a medical practitioner in Whitechapel who made, between £2,000 and £3,000 a year from his patient*, though his fees were often. as low as 6d. This sixpenny fee is quite a common one. though generally the remuneration is- Is. *

How. it may be asked, can such small fees produce so large an income, especially as they include payment for mediciner The reply is to lie found in the number of patients with which doctors have to deal. Alt their surgeries many of them attend to as many as sixty and seventy per eveninc. between the hours of six and nine. “There are no bud deb ts, and there is no sending in of accounts. One invariable custom everywhere prevails— payment is made at the time of the visit. Yet it is a strenuous life which the doctor leads, for difficult and severe is the tension of examining and treating such large numbers at his surgery. Jew : 'P-i f 'ntile, na/jive and foreigner, all <-ike to him are interesting. He is a game of life and death. But frequently, too. he stands with Ithem in the land of deepening shadows. He knows the struggles of those whose life is often worse than death. Whv need he fear? Why speak ill of his East