MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. DOCTORS AND THE HOSPITAL.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1561, 17 June 1920, Page 4

MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. DOCTORS AND THE HOSPITAL.

We have indicated more than once the opinion that in any arrangements which are made for staffing: the hospital it is the welfare of the patients rather than the dignity or decorum of the doctors that should be considered. Dr. Whitaker's scheme, endorsed by the Board, is a bad one, because it is very likely to deprive the patients of the services of some of the best sur-g-eons in the district, who will not submit themselves for selection or rejection at the hands of colleagues to whom the Board has seen fit to practically delegate its functions. As the question is one more vitally affecting the patients than the doctors, we cannot see why any doctor, or set of doctors, should have a monopoly of hospital control. Now that there is a resident surgeon at the local institution, there is no reason why he should not call in any doctor whom a patient favours, and in whom he has confidence, for the purpose of a major operation. Under the present "system" it is possible for a physician to have a case in hand for months, to familiarise himself with primary symptoms and to make a diagnosis on the basis of his observations. And yet when it comes to surgery, he is not even consulted by the man whose turn it is, or whose duty it is, to handle the knife. We cannot for the life of us see why he should not undertake, or at least participate, in this life and death function. The reply to this may be that the results of the present system are no more lethal than those at other hospitals. Very likely that is true, but the goal to be aimed at iA surely the highest efficiency. There are operations which are immediately efficacious, because they give temporary relief, but the only operations which are worth while —from the patient's point of view—are those which are as nearly as humanly possible complete. These can best be performed by those who combine skill with knowledge—not only a knowledge of surgery, but of the patient's "history as a case." That is the principal argument for the "open door" —or, at worst, the semiopen door—in our public hospitals.