DR. G. B. BURR, Medical Director, FLINT, MIGH. CORPUSCULAR IMPOVERISHMENT A diminution in the number of red blood cells and a retrogade Pepto-Mangan ("Gude) During its administration the microscope evidences a progressive increase in the number, and a constant improvement in the structural character of the corpuscular elements. This palatable and quickly assimilable combination of Organic Iron and Manganese is a true "blood feeder" and corpuscle contributor in cases of Anæmia, Chlorosis, Amenorrhea, Bright's Disease, Chorea, Dysmenorrhea, etc. Prescribe Pepto-Mangan "Gude" in original 3 xi bottles. It's Never Sold in Bulk. M. J. BREITENBACH COMPANY, LABORATORY. Sole Agents for U. S. and Canada, LEIPZIG, GERMANY. 56-58 WARREN ST., NEW YORK. DENVER MEDICAL TIMES THOMAS H. HAWKINS, M.D., LL.D., EDITOR. DENVER MEDICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. Henry O. Marcy, M.D., Boston. COLLABORATORS: Thaddeus A. Reamy, M.D., Cincinnati. G. Law, M.D., S. H. Pinkerton, M.D., Salt Lake City. Graeme M. Hammond, M.D., New York. Bradford Galloway, M.D., Leadville, Colo. Subscriptions, $2.00 per Year in Advance; Single Copies, 20 Cents. Address all Communications to 1740 Welton Street, Denver, Colo. We will at all times be glad to give space to well written articles or items of interest to the profession. [Entered at the Postoffice of Denver, Colorado, as mail matter of the Second Class.] EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT. Fees for Referring Patients to Consultants. Dr. Charles Lyman Greene, in a letter to the New York Medical Journal, scores this journal for not dealing out a severe rebuke to the "Western doctor" who advocated commissions to be paid to the general practitioner for cases referred. The condition of commercialism referred to by Dr. Greene, and brought prominently before the profession by the "Western doctor," indicates a rather deplorable state of affairs in the medical profession. The commission business has been carried on by the Eastern specialist for a great many years. It is only within the last three or four years that the practice has become at all common in the West. At the present time it is the practice of a certain few of the specialists in Denver to pay a regular commission, so we understand. There are others who, as intimated in the Colorado Medical Journal, pat the general practitioner on the back, give him a good dinner, take him to the theater, give him a card to the club, or in some way "pull the wool over the victim's eyes" and leave him to believe that he, the specialist, is about the only friend the general practitioner has in the State of Colorado. There is another practice in Denver that is even more deplorable than the commission business, but this grows out of competition and does not indicate that low order of mental calibre, nor does it indicate that state of total depravity that is to be found among the commission doctors. We have said before that when one physician refers a patient to another doctor that the physician so referring that patient should be paid for all services rendered that patient. If he visits the patient and finds that the patient is one that he does not care to treat and refers it to the specialist, he should be paid for his visit. And, should he be called in consultation by the specialist, he should receive the same consultation fee as the specialist; if he gives the anesthetic or assists in the operation he should be well paid. We have known doctors, in the city of Denver, to have a patient referred to them by a general practitioner and afterward to assist in the operation or administer the anesthetic, the specialist collecting a good fee, the patient refusing to pay the doctor referring the patient on the ground that he had already paid the specialist, and the specialist in his turn refusing to pay the general practitioner for services rendered, and become indignant when it was intimated to him that he should look after the fee of the doctor referring the patient, and sarcastically replying that he was not a "commission doctor." There is one bone we have to pick with the specialist and that is, when a patient is referred to him he claims the patient as his and fails to recognize the fact that the patient sent to him still belongs to the doctor sending the patient. We have known it to occur frequently and we have heard the charge frequently made that when a patient was sent, say to an ear specialist, this same ear specialist sent the patient to a neurologist or perhaps to a gynecologist or perhaps to a dermatologist or perhaps, later on, to an obstetrician or to a general surgeon. A specialist who will do a thing of this kind is not worthy of the support of the profession, is not entitled to recognition of any kind, in fact, he is ignorant of the code of ethics, or he is not a gentleman. Oculists as Refracting A recent excellent article by Dr. G. Melville Black, on "How to Get Rid of the Refracting Opticians, Doctors of Refraction, Etc." has led us to offer a suggestion to physicians and medical societies in districts where there are no qualified eye specialists. It is the custom of the various "Refracting Opticians," etc., to spend a part of their time traveling from town to town in the state, advertising their skill in the newspapers and often inducing the local physicians to become solicitous for them. Their "free examination" is amply paid for in the outrageous prices they obtain for their "glasses" (we have known people to pay from $30.00 to $75.00 for being "fitted") and as they are not permitted to use mydriatics their work is often incorrect and the patient has to follow out a series of changes, until he accidentally gets the proper glass, meanwhile being tortured and damaged by attempts to force his already weakened eyes to accommodate themselves to his improper glasses. These opticians, in order to cover their chagrin at being forbidden the use of mydriatics, uniformly inveigle against their employment by oculists, telling horrible tales of blindness, cataract, etc., thus bringing discredit in the minds of the laity upon the legitimate ophthalmologists, who are among the most skillful members of the medical profession. The obloquy thus thrust upon the legitimate eye men cannot fail, for psychological reasons, in reacting to a certain degree upon the other members of the regular profession. It is, therefore, the duty of the physician to protect himself, in protecting the ophthalmologist, from this discredit, by opposing the traveling optician and supporting his qualified brother. Our plan is this: Let the physicians of a district, or the county medical society, agree upon one or more reputable oculists, who shall be invited to visit their town or towns at certain intervals. Let the oculists also get together and make a fair division of these districts. Let the physicians in these places see that those of their clientele who need the services of experts in ophthalmology are brought to the oculist when he comes. In this way there is a mutual benefit and support; the oculist does not endeavor to discredit regular medical practice, and the physician is protecting himself, by protecting the specialist, forging one more link in the chain which shall unify the medical profession. Last, and most important of all, the patient receives proper treatment by a capable man, and is not made the victim of extortion.-G. H. S. Neuritis from Eating Pork. Professor Spiller (Philadelphia Polyclinic, Sept. 24th) reports the case of a man who, shortly after eating putrefying pork, was taken ill with acute gastro-enteritis and also complained of paresthesia in the extremities, consisting of numbness, “pins and needles" and cold, with little or no pain except in the feet after walking. There was some swelling of the ends of the limbs, distinct muscular weakness and moderate diminution of objective sensation. The nervous symptoms contiued unaltered during two months. Society. American Microscopical This society, at its recent annual session, elected the following officers for the ensuing year: President, Dr. William C. Krauss, of Buffalo; First Vice-President, Professor A. M. Bleile, of Columbus, O.; |