The Dublin hospitals : their grants and governing bodies / by E.D. Mapother.

  • Edward Mapother
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Dublin hospitals : their grants and governing bodies / by E.D. Mapother. 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.

    19/34 page 17
    1/ Corrigan and others could obtain their position by nepotism. With respect to the purchase system, although there was a specific sum iven for the position, there were many perfectly ready to give that sum, and the electors were by no means men who had no choice in respect of the best men. With respect to the proposition to do away with the purchase system and to substitute a better one, he should say that he had not heard of a better one. He concluded by denying that the governors of those hospitals whose system he defended sacrificed the interests of the poor. Mb. Shaw, F.T.C.D. said the importance of the subject was so great that he thought the Society should depart from its usual rule, and adjourn the discussion to another evening. Dr. Murney seconded the motion, which was adopted. SECOND MEETING. [Tuesday evening, 29th June.] Professor Ingram, F.T.C.D. in the chair. Mb. Shaw, F.T.C.D. re-opened the discussion and said : The ques- tion raised by Dr. Mapother’s paper is whether it is for the public advantage that offices in hospitals should be to any extent the subject of purchase and sale. This Society is not sitting in judgment on any profession or on any individual, or enquiring into the moral right or wrong of a practice which has received the sanction of many eminent and honorable men; we are simply discussing whether hos- pital appointments ought to be thrown open, in the view of the public interest, to the widest possible competition, or whether their disposal can be safely and judiciously limited by the enforcement of pecu- niary arrangements. There is, in the first place, an historical pre- sumption against the purchase system. The habit of selling public offices was at one time universal. Places in the administration, the government of provinces, seats on the judicial bench, positions in the Church, were habitually sold, but this system was found to be inimical to the public interests, and the purchase system is now con- fined to the army and to hospitals in certain places. The main argument, however, against the system in question is derived from the general economic principle, that they should not limit the field of selection if they wanted to get the best candidate. Now, this general principle happens to be of peculiar importance in the case of hospital appointments. To be fit for an hospital a man should not only be a skilful surgeon and have an aptitude for teaching, but he should also be able to act harmoniously with his colleagues, and be possessed of those qualities which gain the confidence and affec- tion of all those with whom he came in daily contact. To superadd to these numerous qualifications the condition that the candidate should produce £>^00 or £1,000, was really to incur a serious risk of shutting out a competent officer. But to these general and spe- cial arguments several replies are urged; and to the consideration of these we are bound to give our careful attention. It is said, in the 2
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