Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H.
- Holmes, C.
- Date:
- 1878
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![expert in medical science, and adopt the treatment advised by him. The offence unwittingly committed by this poor man is, however, far less criminal than that of the Poor-Law Medical Officer, who, availing himself of the ignorance of the poor, the indifference of the Guardians, and the connivance of the Relieving Officer,* thrusts on the sick paupers committed to his care the attendance of an Unqualified Assistant, not seldom an individual aptly described to us by a member of the profession well acquainted with the subject, as “ a lad of about twenty-two years of age.” This individual may or may not have medical knowledge; he may be a gentleman, or he may be a drudge, little better educated than a groom, and who is said by one of his own order in a communication to The Lancet to be frequently known to the patients as “ the Cove who opens the door; ” yet we know this practice is pursued by numberless individuals, who disregard the conditions of the agreement they have entered into, and treat the Local Government Board, its orders, and regulations, w'itk contempt.f A Poor Law Conference of the South Midland District was held at Oxford a few months since, at which sikty-four Unions were represented, and the attendance of the rural clergy was very considerable. After a discussion on Education, a Paper was read by Mr. Austin, of Luton, on “ Pauperism,” in which the steady, persistent, and unflinching administration of the law was advocated. This was followed by a long debate, principally pointing to the discontinuance of Out-door Relief as the remedy for existing evils, one of the speakers (Rev. W. Bury) observing that “ he should be inclined to do away with Out-door Relief, and also Medical Relief.” This, with other speeches made on the occasion, brought forth the following article in one of the leading newspapers published in that city: “If a foreigner should visit us with a view to learn our method of dealing with the pauper population of the country, he would probably be powerfully impressed by the admirable arrangements provided for dealing with the aged and sick ; he would find that one of the fundamental duties of a Board of Guardians is to divide their Union into districts of a convenient size, and to appoint a Medical Officer to each, whose duty shall * See Appendix. t See penalty for this offence in previous note.—[C. H.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2235007x_0010.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
