DOCTORS IN REVOLT.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19065, 2 October 1933, Page 5

DOCTORS IN REVOLT.

HIGHWAY SAMARITANS. MOTORISTS’ UNPAID BILLS. Doctors in Britain are rebelling against being regarded as the unpaid good Samaritans of the highways. At the annual meeting of the British Medical Association it was stated that they receive payment in only one case out of five motor accidents which they are called upon to attend. Lord Moynihan, the famous surgeon, has promoted a Bill in the House of Lords to compel people who are injured in such accidents to recompense the doctor who might save their lives. “Since the new year," a wellknown doctor said recently, “I have been called out to 35 road accidents. But despite the fact that I have rendered my bill in each case, I have been paid for five cases only.” Sir Stenson Cooke, secretary of the Automobile Association, when interviewed, was very sympathetic to the doctors’ point of view. He says he wants to see that doctors are adequately paid for the services they render in roadside accidents. “But,” said Sir Stenson, “I am strongly opposed to the motorist concerned paying on the spot for any medical treatment which might be necessary. “The motorist does not want to dodge his responsibility. But once the driver has paid, his responsibility for the accident has been tacitly acknowledged. Tliig is a jolt for the State to handle. The doctor should be paid—at least for the lime being—out of public funds."