The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters.
- Bowerbank, Lewis Q.
- Date:
- 1865
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
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![hy Dr. Stem, nil, in iny opinion, arise from a laxity of diRci- pline and Itad internal nuiuagenient of the hospital, by wliich jtoo much of the duties and responsibilities of the Ordinary Med'ical (Jflicers have been allowed by them to devolve on, or be assumed liy the Resident Medical Officers : such as the power of discharging pa- tients, the placing patients on spoon diet as a punishment (a very qucstionitble practice in well-conducted hospitals), the altering of diets, and the allowance and stoppage of extras, comforts, &c. All these are duties which require discretion, and which belong to the Responsible Medical Officers, and ought always to be carried out by them, their directions being daily taken down by the Resi- dent Medical Officer, in the journal at the bedside of the patient. The Ordinary Medical Officers are amenable for the good ma- ]iagement of the wards under their care, and the performance of such important duties therefore belongs to them, and to them alone. The performance of these duties, especially punishments, if deemed essentially requisite, if directed by them, comes with a better grace their ordering extras and additional diet, &c., is a guarantee to the public that all is right, and that in these respects, there will be no needless expenditure. And, again, the ordinary medical officers performing these duties, relieves the resident medical officer* from much importunit3^ dissatisfaction, and odium on the part of patients. The performance of these duties partially by the resident medical of- ficers is wrong, and is sure to give rise to unpleasant occurrences, and to unseemly clashings of authority, as in the case of Moses Carter. The law distinctly directs, thatthe ordinary medical officers shall admit patients, and, therefore, by implication, they shall discharge them. I was surprised to find, that when asked for, no journal was pro- duced. This is a great omission, as the law directs it shall be kept, and that the ordinary medical officers shall see that the same is re- gularly written up by the resident medical officer. This document is a most important one in all enquiries, and, in its absence in any prolonged case, the evidence adduced on recollection, or subse- quently written down, may be called in o^uestion. The register too was not written up. The only patient ot those named, whose dis- ease was entered, was M'Rae, who appears under the head of ery- sipelas of the log. There is no doubt that Dr. Stern lias been in the habit of placing patients on spoon diet as a punishment; he himself allows it; and tells us, that although he ordered a patient on spoon diet for three days, yet this punishment would not be carried out, inasmuch as the nurse'had directions not to keep any patient on spoon diet for longer than two days. Plere then the order of the medical officer becomes an idle threat; a mere waste of words. This is a mis- chievous practice as regards the nurse. All directions in a hospital should be clear and distinct, and, when given, should be intended to be carried out strictly, without diminution or addition. Formerly, in this hospital, persons who complained were pu- nished by being placed on spoon diet; and from an expression made use of by two of the witnesses (Dawkins and Leivitch), there is, I](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21297733_0086.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
