STATE INTERFERENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 926, 20 March 1930, Page 1

STATE INTERFERENCE

Competition with Professions LAW, MEDICINE, DENTISTRY “How Long Can It Go On ? ” STATK interference In professions was referred to at the annual dinner of the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Dental Association last evening'. The waste of time and the sacrifice of the medical profession, particularly in attending to accident cases, were also mentioned.

Mr. G. Lawrence Taylor, In proposing the health of the Auckland Division of the New Zealand section of ihe British Medical Association, said it was time the public knew something of the time wasted by doctors in attending cases for which they received jio fee. He spoke of the immense r,mount of work done in the public hospitals, but the public did not know anything of the time which was spent ihere or the sacrifices which were made. He knew that it was largely in the interests of the professions to do duty in the hospitals. Mr. Taylor went on to say he had noticed that an increasing number of men in good financial positions were availing themselves of the services of the public hospital. They insisted on going there and often waited for a particular surgeon so that he could operate on them. The increasing number of street accidents also made heavier demands on the medical men, and in the majority of cases they did not receive a fee for tho services rendered. When an accident occurred a doctor was always called. If the case was a severe one, the injured person was sent to the public hospital, but sometimes a doctor would spend from halt an hour to an hour in attending to people without receiving any remuneration. There should be some protection for medical men. The public did not realise how their time was wasted. STANDARD OF ETHICS Dr. Kenneth MacCormick, in his jeply, referred to the ideals of the

professions. “The object of your association, as of our own, is to keep together a band of honourable men who, by a standard of ethics, renders to the public the best possible service. ’ he said. “This is the ideal of all professions, but at the present time there are one or two factors which militate against those ideals.’* Dr. MacCormick mentioned that one of these factors was a certain amount of aggression from the State Departments. The law had the Public Trust, dentists had dental clinics and doctors were having a certain amount of difficulty with State hospitals. Another factor was a certain amount of departure from the accepted standard of the highest ethics in tho professions. He referred to the fact that a beneficent Government, by certain grants and bursaries, had been partly responsible for overcrowding some of the professions. “How long can that go on?" he asked. ‘ How long can the State compete with the professions?” Dr. MacCormick agreed that sometimes, in the interests of everyone, professional men were often glad to assist the State and sink their own interests. He instanced the present cancer campaign as one example, and said that the medical profession would do all it could to help. However there was a limit to what tho State could do. “We will not attain the highest standards through State services.” Dr. MacCormick concluded. “I think the time is approaching when we will have almost an association of associations of professional men.”