Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 156, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1914 — Doctors and the Credit System Briefly Considered. [ARTICLE]

Doctors and the Credit System Briefly Considered.

Sickness frequently occurs in families that are regarded m mighty poor pay. Even harsher terms are sometimes used tn speaking of these people who for some reason are always (behind. The grocer, the butcher, the clothier and others can demand that they receive cash tor their wares, but the doctor in eases of sickness is asked to rush to the bedside of the sufferer day or night and minister to their needs without regard to whether or not he is to receive his pay. He is considered very mercinary if -he .asks when called Wether or not the pay will be forthcoming. The ushering of a babe into the world is sometimes a tedious process and a physician may have more than one case needing his attention at the same time. One he knows is cash, the other doubtful or altogether bad. Has he not a perfect right to ask of the father: “Will I feet my pay?”

'But whether there were conflicting cases or not, the doctor has a right to know. He has spent years of study to acquire his professional knowledge. That is what he has for sale. The lawyer selfs his profeasionai services and demands cash for his services, The dentist can require cash before he performs his work. The undertaker even makes himself reasonably safe, but many expect the doctor to rush at breakneck speed to the bedside and use the drugs for which he must pay and then wait until the spirit moves the debtor to make settlement. Doctors report that the spirit'frequently fails to move them at all. Many go as far as they can and then get another doctor and are terribly aggrieved if the physician asks if they can pay if he responds to their call. There is no reason why a doctor should attend a suffering patient who will not pay any more than a butcher should give his meat to families who are in want 'but who are improvident. If one’s love for a member of his family is such that he wants to have the physician relieve their suffering and restore them to health, then it should be so strong as to pay the physician tor having done eo. Recently at Duquoin, 111., a man called a physician to his home. The man was poor pay, already owed the doctor and had made no effort to settle. The doctor eaid he would not come. The man hunted up the doctor and killed him. He will probably try to defend his crime on the basis that he Was crazed by the suffering of a member of his family. The defense will be a false one, for had he loved his family so intensely as that he Would have paid his bill and thus prepared for the family the protection of a physician's services when they were needed. The doctor should be entitled to make the Same demands of payment that the merchant does. He is not obliged from a standpoint of sentiment to attend any person. He should not 'be criticised for asking where the money is to come from. There is a county physician in every county in the union whose services are available for those who can not pay. Those who will not pay deserve no sympathy whatever.

The progressive party of North Dakota has fallen short of the number of votes required to qualify candidates for a place on the ballot Under the law, party candidates must have 25 per cent of the total vote cast for the candidate for governor in the last previous election. The progressives registered only 2,430 votes in the state, thus eliminating the party from the primary fight.