THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1880. DOCTORS DIFFER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2130, 21 December 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1880. DOCTORS DIFFER.

To-moeeow the members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board are to meet to further consider certain matters connected with the completion of the appointments of the Hospital Medical Staff. Already four gentlemen haTe been ballotted for and elected; and so was a fifth, a Dr. Anderson, who, for reasons only known to the "initiated" thought itwiseand expedient to resign the post upon very mysterious premises. Now we are fully aware that the community is heartily sick and tired of the results, to the public welfare, of those endless professional jealousies which have raged for years. In fact these doctors' quarrels are looked upon nowadays as a matter of course in the city. It has grown and developed nto a sickly fungus of enormous dimensions; and people laugh and pass on

I unconcerned so long as public interests are not jeopardised by the many storms in the medical teapot. Since the Turn-bull-cum-Nedwill element, however, lost the medical handling of ail'airs at the ■ Hospital things have assumed dimensions of a larger aspect. The ejected party, or let us call it by the popular term clique, awaited their opportunity, remembering, doubtless, the old adage that all things come round to him who will but wait. Time wore on, and under the new regime of Messrs. Prins, Townend, Campbell, and others, Hospital matters were conducted to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, whether they were the authorities, the public, or the patients. Then we come to the charge which was brought by the Health Officer, Dr. Nedwill, to the effect that certain cases of typhoid fever, treated in the Hospital, had not been reported to him as the law enjoins. That Dr. Nedwill acted perfectly within his jurisdiction cannot be denied. More than this, we are quite prepared to give him every credit for the zealous manner in which he has always carried out his duties as Medical Officer to the Board of Health. That Board, we may fairly say, has every ground for congratulating itself on the possession of such an ardent functionary. But all this has nothing to do with the question at present at issue. In due course of things official, when much had passed between the Board of Health and the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board on the subject, Government was moved to have the matter inquired into. Dr. Skae was appointed a Royal Commissioner, with instructions to secure evidence as to the validity of the charges made. It may appear strange that the usual course of appointing two Royal Commissioners, as is done in cases of importance, was here departed from. Dr. Skae came, and he took evidence; evidence from the publication of which day after day, it has been easy to understand that the whole question was one of the profesional tweedledum and tweedledoe. The issue, summed up in a few words, was merely this : Were the Hospital eases mentioned by the Health Officer cases of typhoid fever, or were they of other kinds of fever ? Usually, and naturally enough, Royal Commissioners, acting as they do as a tribunal to collect evidence and weigh it in their judicial balance, act solely on that evidence, and—as is the case in other Courts —they do not allow any private ideas or prejudices of their own to influence them in their decision. That decision must be arrived at merely from an examination of the facts, such examination being conducted according to the Laws of Evidence. In the present inquiry, one set of men swore that the symptoms of the cases referred to were those of typhoid, while, on the other hand, the other side swore point blank to the contrary. We take it that —Dr. Skae inclnded, whose experience has been entirely limited to lunacy practice—every medical man of both parties holds as good certificates as his neighbour, and not probably one whit better. In regard to professional experience in point of years or of practice, it is quite a different matter. It was not very many years ago that in another bitter controversy between our Christchurch medical friends, Dr. Nedwill was completely " bowled out" in the matter of certain cases of scarlet fever which had been reported by Dr. Townend and others, and which cases Dr. Nedwill had strenuously declared were nothing of the kind. But, as Dr. Nedwill thought best to say before Dr. Skae, " 'twas a very long time ago." No Royal Commission was appointed on this scarlet fever embroglio, and all things were comfortably lubricated and smoothed down. Not so, however, in the present typhoid " war of words"; yet who, in turning over the newspaper records of that " long ago " will say that any perceptible difference could be traced between the two diagnoses ? Lawyers, as well as doctors, differ continually in their professional elucubrations, and on very serious questions too. Mr. Royal Commissioner Skae had two distinct sets of technical testimony placed before him, and, instead of declaring the present " battle of the doctors " a drawn one, he chose to throw into the balance his individual modicum of medical knowledge, which is but that, after all, of one individual, and one of no colonial experience at that. No wonder that the Government did not endorse, not minute even, his finding. No wonder that the majority of the Hospital Board received his report as they did, giving it but little or no weight, and that they carefully proceeded to the business of the meeting without further ado. The evidence taken at the inquiry was published in extenso from day to day in the press, and no one, whether on the Board or out of it, could have failed at the time of. its publication to see that the whole thing was but moonshine, the outcome of another display of petty and miserable jealousy and soreness of feeling on the part of a disappointed few " who refused to be comforted." As we said before, what possible gain, directly or indirectly, could the Hospital Staff secure by not reporting cases of typhoid? And the leading spirit of the Staff, Dr. Prins, it is notorious, has had, for very many years past, considerable experience here in this class of disease. Years ago, in the old Provincial days, it was ho who first brought to notice the earliest cases of that disease known in the settlement. But then, as Dr. Nedwill would again exclaim—" It was so long ago !"—ln the sweet gone-bye in truth. That some of the old Hospital Staff, who so shamefully deserted their posts in a moment of need and left that Institution to take care of itself, through pure motives of professional egotism, are now dancing a merry war dance of exultation over the crude expression of opinion gratuitously given by Dr. Skae, will surprise nobody. The very street Arab has long been conversant with certain tricks of trade, though they be assisted by the pulling of journalistic strings. The public, however, looks to the Hospital Board to leave aside all personal considerations. The Board has nothing to learn as to these wretched quarrels, which unfortunately do not date from yesterday. It should act with no object in view but that of the public good, and merely remember the all importance of the having maintained on the most efficient footing so valuable an institution as the Hospital. The laches spoken of by the Colonial Secretary in his letter to the Board in reference to certain books being kept and entries being made, originated in the Turnbull era. The old staff, not the present, are entirely responsible for them. Dr. Skae, of course, had not the least notion of what antics had been played in the past. We very much fear that his diagnosis of the present, and much garbled, state of affairs was based upon somewhat raw, feeble, and hap-hazard data. His knowledge of the great medical family of Christchurch could not, natu-

rally enough, be extensive. The " man in the street" could have easily opened his eyes as to what wonderful wheels within wheels have for years past been working the intricate machinery of professional and Hospital questions in this city. The Hospital and Charitable Aid Board knows full well its erratic complications, however, and we have no doubt will act accordingly. THE " STAR " AND THE MEDICAL STAFF. Op all the lame excuses or apologies, or whatever it may be termed, commend us to the " Star's" performance in last night's issue On Saturday evening our j contemporary penned one of those utterances for which it has become so celebrated. The object of that utterance was the utter annihilation of the late Mayor, Mr Ick. That gentleman is, in finely frenzied language, accused of a marvellous number of peccadilloes. First of all, in violation of his pledge last year, he stood for the Mayoralty. Curiously enough, however, "no man could have entered upon the duties of the office of Mayor with more general goodwill than Mr. Ick." Very singular this. But after all, says the "Star," what has happened. "We have scanned him narrowly—as it is our unfortunate duty to have to watch the acts of every public man." Public men being such hideous spectacles in the eyes of the " Star," it is difficult to see why Mr. Ick is picked out of the miserable crowd. But picked out he is for various absurd and frivolous reasons, until at the conclusion of the article, with reference to the appointment of medical men for the hospital, he is said to be in league with "a disgraced and dishonored Staff." Last night, in an obscure paragraph, a sort •f apology is attempted for the above expression, and the in which it is done is so naive as to be absolutely ridiculous. "As our purpose," says the " Star," " was to deal with the ex-Mayor, and having no desire to libel the body of gentlemen referred to, we withdraw the expression." If this means anything it means the following:—The "Star" was perfectly well aware that there was not a word of truth in the expression it used with regard to the Staff, but with the sole object of blackening the character of the ex-Mayor it unhesitatingly made use of the words. Out of this dilemma our contemporary cannot escape. It would have been wiser perhaps if the " Star" had set np another excuse, namely, that when it is "on the rampage" it is not responsible for what appears in its columns. It has, however, elected to declare that it libelled a highly respectable body of gentlemen because it was "dealing with the exMayor."