The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors
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The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors George Bernard Shaw The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors Table of Contents The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors...........................................................................................................1 George Bernard Shaw....................................................................................................................................1 DOUBTFUL CHARACTER BORNE BY THE MEDICAL PROFESSION...............................................2 DOCTOR'S CONSCIENCES........................................................................................................................3 THE PECULIAR PEOPLE............................................................................................................................3 RECOIL OF THE DOGMA OF MEDICAL INFALLIBILITY ON THE DOCTOR..................................4 WHY DOCTORS DO NOT DIFFER............................................................................................................5 THE CRAZE FOR OPERATIONS...............................................................................................................6 CREDULITY AND CHLOROFORM...........................................................................................................6 MEDICAL POVERTY..................................................................................................................................7 THE SUCCESSFUL DOCTOR.....................................................................................................................7 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF−RESPECT IN SURGEONS.....................................................................8 ARE DOCTORS MEN OF SCIENCE?.........................................................................................................9 BACTERIOLOGY AS A SUPERSTITION................................................................................................10 ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES OF IMMUNIZATION...............................................................................11 THE PERILS OF INOCULATION.............................................................................................................12 DOCTORS AND VIVISECTION...............................................................................................................13 THE PRIMITIVE SAVAGE MOTIVE.......................................................................................................14 THE HIGHER MOTIVE. THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE........................................................................15 THE FLAW IN THE ARGUMENT............................................................................................................15 LIMITATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO KNOWLEDGE...............................................................................15 A FALSE ALTERNATIVE.........................................................................................................................16 OUR OWN CRUELTIES............................................................................................................................17 THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CRUELTY..............................................................................18 ROUTINE....................................................................................................................................................18 THE OLD LINE BETWEEN MAN AND BEAST.....................................................................................20 VIVISECTING THE HUMAN SUBJECT..................................................................................................21 "THE LIE IS A EUROPEAN POWER"......................................................................................................21 AN ARGUMENT WHICH WOULD DEFEND ANY CRIME..................................................................22 THOU ART THE MAN..............................................................................................................................23 WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS AND WILL NOT GET............................................................................23 THE VACCINATION CRAZE...................................................................................................................23 STATISTICAL ILLUSIONS.......................................................................................................................24 THE SURPRISES OF ATTENTION AND NEGLECT.............................................................................25 STEALING CREDIT FROM CIVILIZATION..........................................................................................25 BIOMETRIKA.............................................................................................................................................26 PATIENT−MADE THERAPEUTICS........................................................................................................27 THE REFORMS ALSO COME FROM THE LAITY................................................................................27 FASHIONS AND EPIDEMICS..................................................................................................................27 THE DOCTOR'S VIRTUES........................................................................................................................28 THE DOCTOR'S HARDSHIPS..................................................................................................................28 THE PUBLIC DOCTOR.............................................................................................................................29 MEDICAL ORGANIZATION....................................................................................................................29 THE SOCIAL SOLUTION OF THE MEDICAL PROBLEM...................................................................30 THE FUTURE OF PRIVATE PRACTICE.................................................................................................31 THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM..................................................................................................................32 THE LATEST THEORIES..........................................................................................................................33 i The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors George Bernard Shaw This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online. http://www.blackmask.com • DOUBTFUL CHARACTER BORNE BY THE MEDICAL PROFESSION • DOCTOR'S CONSCIENCES • THE PECULIAR PEOPLE • RECOIL OF THE DOGMA OF MEDICAL INFALLIBILITY ON THE DOCTOR • WHY DOCTORS DO NOT DIFFER • THE CRAZE FOR OPERATIONS • CREDULITY AND CHLOROFORM • MEDICAL POVERTY • THE SUCCESSFUL DOCTOR • THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF−RESPECT IN SURGEONS • ARE DOCTORS MEN OF SCIENCE? • BACTERIOLOGY AS A SUPERSTITION • ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES OF IMMUNIZATION • THE PERILS OF INOCULATION • DOCTORS AND VIVISECTION • THE PRIMITIVE SAVAGE MOTIVE • THE HIGHER MOTIVE. THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. • THE FLAW IN THE ARGUMENT • LIMITATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO KNOWLEDGE • A FALSE ALTERNATIVE • OUR OWN CRUELTIES • THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CRUELTY • ROUTINE • THE OLD LINE BETWEEN MAN AND BEAST • VIVISECTING THE HUMAN SUBJECT • "THE LIE IS A EUROPEAN POWER" • AN ARGUMENT WHICH WOULD DEFEND ANY CRIME • THOU ART THE MAN • WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS AND WILL NOT GET • THE VACCINATION CRAZE • STATISTICAL ILLUSIONS • THE SURPRISES OF ATTENTION AND NEGLECT • STEALING CREDIT FROM CIVILIZATION • BIOMETRIKA • PATIENT−MADE THERAPEUTICS • THE REFORMS ALSO COME FROM THE LAITY • FASHIONS AND EPIDEMICS • THE DOCTOR'S VIRTUES • THE DOCTOR'S HARDSHIPS • THE PUBLIC DOCTOR • MEDICAL ORGANIZATION • THE SOCIAL SOLUTION OF THE MEDICAL PROBLEM The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors 1 The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors • THE FUTURE OF PRIVATE PRACTICE • THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM • THE LATEST THEORIES This etext was produced by Eve Sobol, South Bend, Indiana, USA It is not the fault of our doctors that the medical service of the community, as at present provided for, is a murderous absurdity. That any sane nation, having observed that you could provide for the supply of bread by giving bakers a pecuniary interest in baking for you, should go on to give a surgeon a pecuniary interest in cutting off your leg, is enough to make one despair of political humanity. But that is precisely what we have done. And the more appalling the mutilation, the more the mutilator is paid. He who corrects the ingrowing toe−nail receives a few shillings: he who cuts your inside out receives hundreds of guineas, except when he does it to a poor person for practice. Scandalized voices murmur that these operations are unnecessary. They may be. It may also be necessary to hang a man or pull down a house. But we take good care not to make the hangman and the housebreaker the judges of that. If we did, no man's neck would be safe and no man's house stable. But we do make the doctor the judge, and fine him anything from sixpence to several hundred guineas if he decides in our favor. I cannot knock my shins severely without forcing on some surgeon the difficult question, "Could I not make a better use of a pocketful of guineas than this man is making of his leg? Could he not write as wellor even betteron one leg than on two? And the guineas would make all the difference in the world to me just now. My wifemy pretty ones the leg may mortifyit is always safer to operatehe will be well in a fortnightartificial legs are now so well made that they are really better than natural