An appeal supplementary to "Hospital elections and medical reform" addressed to the governors of St. George's Hospital, and to the profession / by Edwin Lee.

  • Lee, Edwin, -1870.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An appeal supplementary to "Hospital elections and medical reform" addressed to the governors of St. George's Hospital, and to the profession / by Edwin Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    corporate bodies who have the entire control of medical'affairs are composed; and that the exercise of the powers with which these bodies are entrusted, has been attended with much injury to the profession and the community, has been abundantly evidenced of late by the exposure of abuses, and the uni- versal cry for reform. That there have been many individuals distinguished for their high qualifications and attainments, both in the hospitals and corporate bodies will be readily admitted, but the history of these institutions, even during the last twenty or thirty years, sufficiently manifests the corrupt principles of action, which have not failed to produce their prejudicial results, and must continue to produce them until a thorough change be effected in the medical organization of this country—though they may perhaps be to a certain extent prevented by vigilance exerted on the part of governors of hospitals, as to the bona fide claims of candidates when vacancies occur. A chief source of abuse is, as 1 have before observed, to be ascribed to the circumstance that the fees paid by candidates for diplomas, are divided among the examiners, who thus have a direct interest in the numbers presenting themselves for exami- nation—instead of (as in other countries) receiving a fixed com- pensation, whether few or many obtain the diploma. Hence the competition between licensing bodies, by facilitating the exami- nations, has produced the necessary effect of overstocking the profession more than in any other country, not only in point of actual numbers, but also from the influx of many persons ill- qualified to be entrusted with the charge of the health of the community, though such are not unfrequently more employed inasmuch as the public is not always able to discriminate, from their not hesitating to have recourse to means of advancing themselves, which others more scrupulous would repudiate. The medical profession for the most part confiding in those to whom the superintendence of their affairs was entrusted, were scarcely aware of the extent to which the abuses in the medical corporations were carried until the more recent agitation of the reform question, and especially till the appearance of the manifesto and statement emanating from the council of the