CANDID CRITIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22893, 23 November 1937, Page 13

CANDID CRITIC

DOCTOR ON DOCTORS INTOLERANT CREDULITY EDUCATIONAL DEFECTS NEW OUTLOOK NEEDED Some of the freest criticism of • the medical profession by one of its own members that has been heard in Auckland for some time was littered by Dr. F. ,T. Gwynne, radiologist, in an address at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon yesterday. Dr. Gwynne, whose remarks were sprinkled with a good deal of humour, particularly attacked medical education and doctors' hostility to tho medical efforts of outsiders. Mud had been thrown at doctors by many writers, including Molicre, Bernard Shaw and recently Dr. A. J. Cronin, in his novel, "The Citadel," said the speaker. Dr. Cronin made it clear that what he had written did not apply to all doctors, but to only a small percentage. He personally was at one with the author in wishing to see such things put right. "Greatest Show 011 Earth" Lately in Australia Mr. W. M. Hughes had criticised the attitude of the British Medical Association to certain unorthodox medical treatment — and quite rightly. Doctors were apt to become narrow-minded and intolerant toward treatment that originated outside their own ranks. ''Life provides the greatest show on earth," said Dr. Gwynne, and the doctor has a ringside seat. I value_ my privilege and don't wish to abuse it.

' The medical profession is • changing in its attitude to its patients and to the community, but in the transition it is difficult to" keep adjustment abreast of change. The doctor should be the end-product of a perfect civilisation, and he needs your help." Stating that he would try to indicate why the system —not individual doctors—deserved occasional criticism, Dr. Gwynne explained that he did not wish to pose as a reformer. "Isolation and persecution are not for me," he said. The Science of Tediousness After six years; in a medical school ; and the expenditure of at least £ISOO, I the young doctor had not enough confidence to start in practice for him- \ self and usually embarked on a four or five veai-s' post-graduate course. At the end of that he was about 30 years old, with half his life gone, and still he was without practical experience. Dr. Gwynne severely criticised com- ! pulsorv set lectures by far too numer- | ous narrow specialists, who "raised tediousness to an exact science," and the reliance on textbooks with no study of the works of the great physicians. Specialisation, he said, tended to overcrowd and overload the .curriculum. Those who were responsible forgot that medicine was an art and that no amount of teaching would make it a science.

Examinations wore often justly suspected of being competitive, to let only a certain number through each year. They seemed designed to find out what a student did not know, rather than what lie did, and the candidate who was the best echo and imitator of his teacher tended to do best. Doctors' Credulity "What is the result?" asked the speaker. "A diploma bearing signatures to the illegibility of which is added the quiver of arterio-sclerosis; a few technical tricks which we can teach to our secretaries in a few weeks, so that they can do our work; a loss of the critical faculty after a long period of absorbing un-correlated material—it remains un-correlated for many years." The tendency of all this was to niake doctors credulous of claims offered on behalf of new drugs and instruments and of statements the;' read in medical journals, because they could not separate the significant from the insignificant in their years of training. They herded together for mutual protection in professional societies and clinics and condemned unorthodox practices without investigation, in the hope of stemming the rising tide of quackery. "Accent on Youth" "The troubled, sick and dying want friendly counsel from the doctor," declared Dr. Gwynne. "It, is a personal matter between individuals, and everything should be determined by this need. The call is to men unafraid ot" work, generous of heart, of rare mental quality, large understanding and infinite patience." In medicine, responsibility should be undertaken at a much earlier age. All through history the accent ji-as on youth. Hertz, Rutherford, Davy, Galileo, Faraday and many more had mads? great discoveries before the age of 30. Research was not a matter of buildings and endowments, bfit an attitude of mind. The unorthodox must be given a chance; the medical profession had thrown away prayers, charms and poultices and others were reaping a rich harvest from them. In conclusion, Dr. Gwynuc remarked that Auckland had 150 doctors and two large hospitals, but no facilities for the education of post-graduates. A good physician, he said, was a costly product, and the community must recognise it.