THE KING'S ENGLISH
. Sir-As a mémber of the medical profession for more than 27 years, in all the different branches of practice, I protest most vehemently at the letter written by "No False. Colours." This ignorant man, whoever he is,-writes as though the ordinary family practitioner were some ‘sort of professional pariah gathering patients by false pretences. Though not in general practice myself at this stage of my career, I still hold the belief that the G.P. is the most important, as he is the hardest-worked member of the Faculty of Medicine, for his surgery is the clearing house of all grave diseases. But for his careful diagnoses, there would be very few patients to refer to consultants, whether they be M.D. or F.R.C.S. * According ‘to ‘Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, the first duty of a doctor is to prevent disease. To achieve this ideal a man must have, in addition to his knowledge and skill, the ability to teach his patients a way of living calculated to promote a healthy body and a sound mind. Strictly speaking, it is he who has the better right to be entitled "doctor," for does not this word mean a teacher, in elementary Latin? No right-thinking people can look complacently on at the spectacle of a graduate of one or two years in hospital work ‘launching out on the strength of a thesis which, if he has the time and money, he can present less than a year after qualification, The magic letters can go on his plate and his visiting card. Something more than theory, however, is required before these letters can mehn anything. If it takes six years of medical study to turn out a doctor, it certainly takes 12 years more to make a specialist, for only after continuous independent practice covering all aspects from general and family practice to industrial medicine, with perhaps some cottage hospital work for minor surgery and midwifery, can any man who is honest about his profession launch out into the specialist class. Perhaps "No False Colours" will. state his views on the form of address to be used when dealing with or talking to the general practitioner, The title Mr. is now denied him, lest he be accused of pretending to specialist surgery. _
VIA VERITAS VITA
(Dunedin).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530619.2.12.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 727, 19 June 1953, Page 5
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383THE KING'S ENGLISH New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 727, 19 June 1953, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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