Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the hospitals of Dublin : with appendices / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Marjesty.
- Ireland. Dublin Hospitals' Commission.
- Date:
- 1856
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the hospitals of Dublin : with appendices / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Marjesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![the medical and surgical officers of general hospitals, as in London, to prevent the separa- tion from the general practice of the profession of a branch or branches which ought to be known to all. Whether the changes thus proposed, as to grouping and re-arranging the medical and surgical staffs of the Dublin Hospitals, be or be not carried out, the mode of electing the physicians and surgeons of these institutions is a subject of deep interest; and even so far back as the year 1809, attracted the attention and called forth the disapproval of the Com- missioners appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to inquire into the management of certain Charitable Establishments in the City of Dublin, which receive aid from Parliament. These Commissioners were Messrs. J. D. LaTouche, Will. Disney, and G. Renny, all Dublin gentlemen, and in their special Eeport on the House of Industry, their observations are so pertinent to the too common mode of election of hospital physicians and surgeons in Dublin, that no apology is needed to present it on the present occasion:— It is here proper to remark, that for several years past the senior surgeon was also one of the Governors of the Institution (House of Industry). The appointment of p'lyslcians and surgeons to he Governors, prevails in several other medical and surgical estahlishments in Dublin, and has arisen in a great measure from the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number of other Governors to attend; but the tendency of it is to put the management of these departments, without sufficient control, into the hands of the physician or surgeon. It seems an undeniable maxim, that no man should he at once Master and Servant, Governor and Officer. The importance of adliering to this principle in any plan of reform that maybe adopted for the hospitals iu Dublin, cannot be too strongly urged, and it is with great ])leasure we observe that this reform has already taken place in the House of Industry, by the late resignation of the senior surgeon, and the appointment of a successor to whom this objection does not apply. Of the correctness of the views of that Commission there can be no doubt, and it has the practical experience of a long course of years in all the large London Hospitals; but in the smaller ones, which have commonly been got up by the individual exertions of medical men, who have been desirous of establishing teaching institutions for their own benefit, the contrary practice, as might be expected where their own interests were deeply involved, has been followed, and they are often members of the governing body, and vir- tually the electors of those who are to become their colleagues, and supervisors and con- trollers of each other, according to their individual influence in committee, or with the court of governors. The present Commissioners have, in the body of their Report, recommended earnestly the encouragement of subscribing Governors to some of the hospitals, by giving to them the right of voting at the election of physicians and surgeons, and other superior officers, and there is no reason why the same proceeding should not be applied to all. True it is, that one or two Charters, and as many Acts of Parliament, might require revision, but the advantage to the present Schools of Medicine would be so great, and the fair right of Par- liament, which so liberally assists, to interfere witli them for their good, is so undeniable, that it is scarcely possible to imagine any objection to yield a little doubtfully just power, for such change as must invigorate such institutions as the hospitals, of which the citizens of Dublin, and the medical profession of that city especially, as the principal of them have been founded and establislied by members of their own body, have right to be proud of. It may also be added, that in recommending such concession of existing pri- vileges as regards the election of medical and surgical officers, it is only carrying out generally the plan recommended by the present Commissioners, that Government should cease to have the appointment, as now, of the medical and surgical officers of the House of Industry Hospitals, and that their apj:>ointment shall vest in the body of subscribing Governors, which it is hoped, there will be little difficulty in obtaining, when it is known that sub- scribers shall be invested with positive and ostensible privileges, which would induce them to foster and promote the interests and good management of the hospitals with which they are connected, and of which the Cork-street Hospital furnishes a good examjjle. In some of the Dublin Hospitals a very objectionable law exists, by which the medical and surgical officers are appointed for a term of seven years, with a permission of re- election for a like term, but no longer. This plan has been adopted under the plausible pretext of affording to the younger practitioners an opportunity of enjoying hospital experience, which they could not otherwise obtain. But it is only a doubtful advantage gained, and a great benefit lost. Hospital physicians and surgeons, like counsel at the bar, are those to whom the less experienced, less able, and less intelligent members of the profession will naturally look up for aid. If then, after these few years of hard and anxious labour, constantly beset with danger, the physician or surgeon wlio has just had sufficient time, experience, and standing to make his professional opinion begin to be of value, be displaced, his removal from the practical field which he is now turning to the best use for himself and the public, will tend only to bring all the members of the profession to an unhonoured and justly undervalued mediocrity. Besides, if the experienced physician or surgeon is to be removed every seven or fourteen years, how is clinical teaching, putting aside the best medical treatment and the best performance of surgical operations, to be carried on by those who have comparatively little or no personal experience; or how can they keep up such knowledge as is necessary to render them fit examiners of those who seek the diplomas of the several branches of the profession. Here again the practice of the great London Hospitals seems preferable. The Governors, neither of whom are servants of the house, elect all the medical and surgical officers, during pleasure ; and can remove them, if found incapable or inattentive to their duties. This](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24749400_0039.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
