THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1881. THOSE DOCTORS AGAIN.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2152, 18 January 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1881. THOSE DOCTORS AGAIN.

The persistency of the doctors who have constituted themselves into a permanent Board of Observation and Repression over things in general and the present Medical Staff in particular, is something appalling. One would have thought that the report of the Commission would have satisfied them, for it must be confessed that they had it pretty much their own way then. A Commissioner was appointed who had not the remotest dea of the manner in which an inquiry ought be be held, and this gentleman, who had hitherto exercised himself principally in the manipulation of lunatics, happened, curiously enough, to coincide in his medical views with the members of the late Staff. Dr. Skae’s report was sent in, and the Turnbull clique lived in the daily expectation of the governmental heavens falling on the heads of the present Staff. But the Government did not endorse the report of the Commissioner in any way, for they naturally saw that he had entirely mistaken the scope of his functions, and that, instead of being a judge, ho had constituted himself an advocate. The Government was not in any way prepared to pass a professional judgment on the qualifications of opposing sides. Had they wished to have done so they might, perhaps, with advantage have enquired whether the late Staff have not, within the last few weeks, brought from elsewhere at a large expenditure of money, a practitioner to perform an operation which a well-known member of the present Staff could with ease have undertaken. But the Executive were not going to mix themselves up in doctors’ quarrels, and, not being convinced by Dr. Skae’s lucubrations, they have allowed things to go on as they were before, to the perfect contentment of the public at large, but to the deep disgust of the late Staff. These latter appear, indeed, to have been driven to desperation, for, on the 6th instant, they despatched to the Colonial Secretary the letter which was read yesterday, at the meeting of the Board of Health. Let ns see what this extraordinary document says—“ The undersigned, having watched with deep interest the inquiry recently held at the Christchurch Hospital by Dr, Skae, desire to represent to the Government the grave importance which they attach to the suppression of typhoid fever.” Now it is difficult to understand why the watching of the inquiry should have moved the Turnbull faction to make such

a representation to the Government. Both from the tenor of the Commis- 1 sioner’s report itself and from the facts ! brought before the Executive in connec- j tion with the general run of the case, they are well posted in the views held by : the late Staff, and are acquainted with ! their peculiar eagerness after the welfare of the public, coupled, as it is, with their burning desire to annihilate the present Staff. And then the letter travels over the same ground which has afforded the field on which the rival doctors have been struggling. It is again asserted that various patients have died of typhoid fever, and their cases have not been reported. The Government are invited, as of yore, to hold the balance in matters purely professional, and declare that statistics have been vitiated, and that there is no safety for the public unless the late Staff are reinstated in the Hospital. As on a former occasion, the Turnbull clique declare that they represent the large body of the profession throughout New Zealand, being again totally oblivious to the fact that the main body of the profession are little likely to interest themselves in a matter depending solely on local jealousies. And the letter winds up by a general blow at the Hospital Board, who are declared, by re-electing the same Staff in the face of the Royal Commissioner’s report, to have outraged public decency and professional morality, and the Government are urged in the best interests of society and the medical profession to take immediate steps to carry out to its legitimate ending the verdict of Dr. Skao. In point of fact, “ the undersigned ” have opened up no new ground whatever and have endeavoured solely to strengthen their own case by calling hard names and by employing melodramatic phraseology. But, as is often the case in such instances, they have considerably overshot the mark. Had they shown any fresh reasons why Government should move in the matter there might be a raison d’etre for their letter. But, as it stands, they in reality accuse Government itself of the various crimes and misdemeanours urged against the Hospital Board. For the Government has received for some time, and has had time to digest, the Commissioner’s report, and has not moved in the matter. If the Hospital Board have outraged public decency and professional morality, the Government have , at least winked at their conduct, for it has given no sign that it considers that the present Staff has in any way disgraced itself. Indeed, an impartial outsider will at once see that the letter in question is a last despairing effort of the late Staff to get the Government to move in the matter. Recognizing that they have a shocking bad case, they have en- ’ deavored to bolster it up calling hard names. But of one thing they may be certain. They have not strengthened their position one iota. The public were before completely tired of the constant displays of professional jealousies, and 1 this now ebullition, highly flavoured as it is, will be read solely with feelings of sorrow. Nor are the Government at all likely to be turned out of the course they have adopted. They have taken their line, with all the facts of the case well i before them and with their Commissioner’s report in their hands, and an i hysterical appeal, such as the one for--1 warded, will not gain much attention. , In conclusion, we cannot congratulate i Mr. Hobbs on his advocacy of the cause of the Turnbull clique. The matter was referred to the Government, and the Board of Health throughout the enquiry took a very retired attitude, throwing , most of the burden of the undertaking on its Health Officer, It was to be presumed that the Board, of all the bodies concerned, was the most likely to be 1 content to leave the matter in the hands of the Government. But our energetic friend, I whose bump of tact and caution has not been developed at the expense of his other faculties, suddenly blazes out into a resolution of a most fiery order. It is not to be wondered at that he lost it, but it will be well if he takes the lesson to heart and endeavors for the future to recognise that the fewer the number of public bodies that are inoculated with the spirit of unrest caused by these doctors’ squabbles, the better both for the bodies themselves and the public at large.