QUACKS AND QUACKERY.

NZ Truth, Issue 137, 1 February 1908, Page 8

QUACKS AND QUACKERY.

MEDICAL COUNCIL'S DUTY. Legislative Protection of Charlatans.

"How green is this grey world !" wrote a sententious philosopher many years ago. And another publicist has declared m bold print that "there is no profession so lucrative as that which practises upon the credulity of the multitude." How true this is may be seen every day when charlatanism and quackery m various forms, not necessary medical, can be witnessed raising their hydra-heads and basking m the security afforded them by ignorant, indifferent, and possible corrupt Legislatures. In no respect is this unbridled licence permitted to prevail m more atrocious and more rampant shape than it does m connection with unlicensed, unqualified, and unregistered medical practitioners, those illiterate and demoralising empirics who so extensively practise upon the persons and purses of his Majesty's subjects with perfect impunity. A most able and veracious physician m England has truly asserted : "Quackery has destroyed more m this country than the sword, famine, and pestilence united." And what is true of England is m this respect true of Victoria, and, indeed, of Australia, for the conditions are similar. * * * Only a few days ago Coroner Cole,, m giving his decision m what is known as the Davis Cancer Inquest, remarked that, m so far as his reading of the Uw weat, tbrre was-noth-ing, to prevent any person from practising the healing art. This reading of the law applies equally <to England and Australia. Any butcher, baker, candlestick-maker, or ragpicker may set up as a. medical practitioner so long as he does not call himself "doctor." In fact, this view of the reading of the law is confirmed locally by Dr. Norris, President of the Board of Health, who assures us that "any person can set out to practise medicine so long as he does not represent himself to be what he is not." The risk is the public's ; the gain is that of the illegal (because unlicensed and unqualified) practitioner. In the last issue of "Truth" we submitted that the Medical Council of Victoria should seek and d:rriand power and authority from Parliament to strike off the , register the names of those practice- 2i's found guilty of dishonorable or disgraceful professional or personal conduct. .It wrfs^ then pointe*d out that at present the Council possesses no such power except m the case of a criminal offence committed by a registered" practitioner. In suoh a way, it was remarked, the mcdicjrl profession would puree itself of dishonorable or disgraceful and discredited members. • * * That is one aspect of the question. But while such a reform would be undoubtedly beneficial and salutary m the interest of the Public and the Profession, \here are also other considerations. The purging from the legal profession of the abortionists and other "recognised" malpractitioners would be a great aim for the repulable doctors to set themselves. But even were that achieved there is muchinore to be performed. In the case of the Law. m sesprect to whichand to Medicine we last week sought to institute an analogy, no person can practise unless he is formally admitted to be "an officer of the court," and even then he is during the whole of his career subject to the supervision and control of the Judiciary. No man may practise Law without authority and registration. Any person may practise Medicine ! A man is not legally competent to advise you on ■questions of your property, your estate, or your liberty if he be not duly recognised by the courts. ; Any man may deal with your life or health. It- may be here stated incidentally that we are not referring to the "secret drugs and cures," which were the subject of Commissioner Bealo's scathing . report; but , to the unqualified and unregistered persons of both sexes who practise Medicine m any of its varied forms. : ' Also while the Legislature is so indifferent to the public welfare that it permits ignorant and enYpirical charlatans to practise the - healing- art, it has recently erected another obstacle to entrance to the ranks of qualified medical practitioners. This notable inconsistency is shown by the fact that last session the State Parliament passed a law providing that the period of medical education at the Melbourne University or elsewhere should be extended from four years to five years. Thus the qualified doctor must spend at least five years m the study of his profession-r-tho extension of this educational period will be generally approved— tut any ignoramus may proceed direct from, say; the carpenter's bench, the butcher's block, or the journalist's desk to trade and traffic m (and tamper with) the bodies and lives of the people! ' '•' • * v m "Quacks there have always been, and quacks there will always be"— writes Dr. S. Squire Sprigg m his b'oolr, "Medicine and the Public," m the chapter headed "The Evils of Quackery"-^- "but the impunity enjoyed nowadays by quackery is remarkable, almost incredible ; and when its. effects on our generation are noted, it is impossible not. to wonder- that no sugprestion Is ever made, save by medical men, that the law should attenipt to find a remedy. Specific charges have been made against quacks by their dupes, but almost always it has been found that the charges were not sufficiently susceptible of proof to warrant com' : on. The license enjoyed by those practitioners of medicine ... is absolutely wonderful. It would be ludicrous if it were not so sad. Medical electricians, medical hypnotists, medical botanists, antl medical masseurs . : . all are ready to treat the community for every sort of pathalogical condition, and all claim to be the depositaries of thoraneutic secrets which have been dcm^rl' to the intellia-ence of men vim have made surarery and medicino. ihp sfaidv of their lives, and who' have stood the test of examinations to their

knowledge. Surely but very little thought bestowed upon this situation should enable the dullest to. see that it is a highly ridiculous one, and one that reflects m no creditable manner upon public astuteness and good sense. . -.- -. In every other profession or walk of life the public would at once give their vote m favor of the properly-trained body whose proven accomplishments speak- for. it." •' ' * »- It was not always thus.- "In its early days the College of Physicians exercised great power"— says Dr. G-. Vivian Poore m his '■ ''Treatise of Medical Jurisprudence." "It had, absolute control over the practise of medicine m London and; 'within a certain radius round it, and it often put irregular practitioners m the lockup. Surgeons might not administer drugs, and there is a case on record of the President of the College of. Physicians putting a surgeon m prison for administering a purgative. Those early physicians"— the College was founded m 1518— "undertook a great many prosecutions of quacks, and it is of interest to note that a great many of these prosecutions came to nought because then, as now, the quacks had influential friends among the governing classes." '■'Then as now !" Ye gods, yes !■, As, for instance, when a Chief Justice writes- to the paper m praise of a certain "remedy" practised by, an unregistered man ! Also we read : "The early physicians set their faces t.against unprofessional , conduct, and if a man's conduct and morals"— (Yes, ''morals," Dr. Strong, L.R.C.P. !)— "were not what they ought ,to be, they drummed him out of their society and held him up to public obloquy." i. * * * The medical profession remained m a rather chaotic condition, this eminent medical jurist tells us, until the middle of last century. In 1858 the first Medical Act was passed m England. By that Act, as subseniuently amended, it is ordained that no person can be registered as a legally qualified medical practitioner ■ unless he has passed a qualifying examination m all three branches of the profession—medicine, surgery, , and midwifery.. The Medical Council, we are told, has as its main duty to guard the entrances to. ' the profession ajid upon it devolves the duty of expunging from the register persons guilty of certain offences, such as unprofessional conduct. The Council (m England) now devotes much attention to the importance of suppressing unqualified practitioners m every shape and form, and has recently issued an edict that an unqualified assistant shall not be employed by a '"iialified man. In England, also, a qualified man may sue m Court to recover debts for professional services. An unqualified man. cannot. So betakes precious good care to get his fee m advance ! And the unqualified man cannot, without danger to himself, give a certificate of death or lunacy. * • • Dr. Swaine Taylor, m his "Principles and Practice of Medical ' Jurisprudence," states : "Quackery is rampant m every possible direction, but it rarely brings itself within the clutches of the law. Apparently the only way ' the 'law can touch • the quacks is under an action for obtain^ injg money by false pretence that they arc registered persons." In the leading case,, lenown as that of "The Indian Oculists," tried m England m 1893, the presiding judge laid it down to the jury: "If you think these men deliberately performed these operations with full knowledge that, that which they we,r'e doing was useless, unnecessary, arid cruel,- as lihe skilled surgeons tell you, you cannot resist the. conclusion that the' intention they had was to defraud. If you think that this is not established, then they are entitled to be set free." This,' then, is the law. But, of 'course, m this case, the quacks had not the ability to raisethe presumption that they were skill T , ed- and competent. The classes of cases m which the charge of gross negligence^ had been sustained are :— Where recklessness, stupidity, or manifest ignorance is an essential matter has been displayed, or where some wilful injury has been effected, e.g., by- experimentation or by treatment otherwise vthan for the patient's benefit, or by treatment when the practitioner was not m a sober condition. It is an established position that a practitioner, may not experiment on a patient, or, rather,, that' he experiments at his peril. • • • It seems hopeless m the present state of public opinion to expect aid from ' Parliament, as oh all questions relating to the treatment of disease our legislators appear to believe either that it is within the capacity of persons dev6id of all knowledge

of the structure and functions of complex organs to cure the one disease they pretend to treat, or that, if there be any clement of lisle in' the proceedings, the public is sufficiently protected by the rules of law which, govern the buying and selling of merchandise, or the liability of the craftsmen for the results c.f their want of skill. An enlightened public opinion would recognise the importance of possessing a well-educated body of medical practitioners ; it would interest itself m procuring, the utmost efficiency of medical education ; and it would allow none to undertake the treatment' of disease who had not passed a competent public test of his training and knowledge. A medical writer puts it : — "An ignorant meddler with diseased organs is as dangerous as a colorblind engine driver, and should be as carefully prevented from pursuing an occupation which involves so much risk to the public." * Or, as the Arbishop of Treves once properly phrased it :— i'For it is fitting that those who pretend to, be skilled m regard to the health of the body— a matter of the very highest importance—should first be examined and approved m regard to knowledge and morals. In such extremely dangerous and difficult matters everyone must be presumed to be ignorant unless he can prove that 'he has knowledge." * ■ * * The gravity of the extended practice by quacks is being generally recognised throughout the world- A congress on the subject sat m Paris not so very long ago ; while Germany, Canada, and several States? of the American Republic have taken drastic action by legislative process to deal with the evil. There is no 1 more gross or criminal commercialism than tha-t which traffics with, human life or human health for gain. It > may be asserted that the effect of placing ±he. whole control of the practice of medicine under the Medical Board, with flagellatory powers of penalty and punishment, would be tp establish a close corporation. But so it is with the Law. The necessity for action m Australia is so patent as to need no demonstration. There is but one remedy— recognition, re-, gulation, / and registration. The only obstacles standing m the way are. a sickly and spurious sentimentalrjby and public prejudice anent the "liberty of the subject-—as if the lives o!^the 'subjects were 1 not of more importance arid value ! How long will it be before the Profession (and jhe Parliament) . of Victoria, will . take action? Is it not time, for them, m this vital matter, to adopt as their motto the maxim, "We must educate our masters"? The Government; vat any rate, \ should v pass. a law enacting that no one shall be allowed .to practise .the. healing art .unless,; he possesses some standard qualification*.—Melbourne "Truth."