DOCTORS' COMMONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 102, 1 May 1908, Page 8

DOCTORS' COMMONS.

10 THE EDITOR,

Sir, —I read with sincere satisfaction your able leader- (which, by the way, is always readable and not of the heavy-type) on "State Doctors Wanted. v Your opinion that "too often life is sacrificed for want of proper attention " is true. And not only for want of proper attention1 but for want of instruction in the danger lying in getting up.out. of bed before the pat-ient is strong enough to Jeave ic.

"For as relapses make diseases More desperate than their first accesses " (Hudihras), so often, as in tho case of influenza, valuable lives have been lost through ■a relapse which might have been avoided had a medical man been in constant attendance. But while we all admit that doctors are indispensable, it. is unreasonable to expect them to give their services gratis, seeing that of all professions they are the most tied. Their long hours, insufficient rest and sleep, and irregular meals render them often in danger of catching diseases through physical breakdown. I hope some provision will be made to ensure attendance oh the sick-poor, for they are more liable to illness than other classes of people, because of the poor quality of their diet and a strenuous life. One word more re the doctor. Shaksp ( ere says: •" Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water " But who- shall say that the medical man's self-sacrificing heroism to his fellow-men in using the X-rays shall not be written in brass for all lime? ' DEMOS.