Report from the Select Committee on Medical Registration : together with the minutes of evidence, appendix, and index.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Medical Registration.
Date:
[1847]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report from the Select Committee on Medical Registration : together with the minutes of evidence, appendix, and index. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    -J. A. Paris, Esq. M. D. 4 June 1847. 103. Have I omitted to put to you any question raising an objection which you would wish to urge against the Bill now before The House ?—I would observe that the registration should be nothing more than a record of existing qualifi- cations ; it should give to no person any power which he did not previously possess ; it should he merely a record of w’hat the qualification of the individuM is, and nothing more. With regard to the registrars themselves, it strikes me that they are entrusted with powers to judge and decide upon matters which would render them very responsible persons indeed. I can hardly suppose that the registrars would be capable of deciding certain subtile and nice ques- tions which must necessarily come before them with reference to qualification ; numerous questions must arise which I apprehend the registrars would be incapable of deciding, and to whom it should not be left for decision. 104. Have you looked at clauses 11 and 12, which give to physicians the right, which they have not heretofore had, of recovering payment of charges for their attendance ?—We object to that very much; we consider that the physi- cian would under those clauses be converted into a tradesman; we should feel that we had lost caste by allowing those clauses to pass. 105. As relates to physicians, you wish to stand on the same footing as members of the bar, receiving an honorarium, but without having a right of charge ?—Certainly. 106. Speaking for your profession, do you think that you are authorized in saying that the feeling is general among physicians in that respect?—1 am sure it is. 107. You think that they would consider the transference to them of this power of charge for work done as inconsistent with their position as members of a learned profession ?—That is the universal feeling amongst them. 108. I have gone through many of the clauses of the Bill, but taking it as a whole, do you think, as it now stands, that it is or is not conducive to the good of the public and of the profession ?—No; I think that it is destructive of the respectability of the profession ; that is my decided opinion. 109. If it were destructive of the respectability of the profession, would not the interest of the public in the result be most seriously damnified ?— Certainly. 110. As president of the College of Physicians, is this your individual opinion, or do you think that you speak generally the feelings of the body ?—I am satisfied that I am now representing the general feeling of my part of the profession. 111. Of the College of Physicians of England ?—Yes. 112. Chairman^ Does there now exist any real and effectual legal prohibi- tion to persons to practise medicine without your licence ?—Yes. 113. But is the prohibition really carried into effect; are you in the habit of prosecuting all who practise without your licence ?—No. 114. How long is it since a prosecution of that sort has been instituted ?— The last prosecution was the prosecution of Dr. Harrison, who is now dead ; he* was prosecuted for practising as a physician without authority. 115. How long ago ?—I have some difficulty in saying how long ago it was, but ] 2 years perhaps. 116. That was within the seven miles circle ?—Yes. 117. Do you know how long it is since any prosecution has been instituted against any party for practising beyond that circle without authority ?—I do not remember ; I know that there are cases upon record. 118. It would seem, under those circumstances, that the effect which your privileges produced depends upon public opinion, and not upon the penal part of the law?—Certainly; there is no doubt of that. 119. If the effect which your college produces in keeping up the character of the profession arises, not from the penalties contained in the law, but from the character which your college bears, how should the doing away of those penalties destroy its salutary influence ?—I do not know that it would very much destroy its salutary influence; we depend very much upon public opinion. 120. And, therefore, considering your college as one which stands very high in public estimation, it would not necessarily be, as the petition says, superseded in all its most important functions if it retain the public esteem without having the power of prosecuting parties for penalties't—The necessity of coming to our
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