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MEDICAL DEFENCE UNION
809
prefect of the Seine questions with regard
to answer certain specific committee appointed, a candidate other than the to the precautions taken to officer they had wished to promote. This is the keep the water clean in the swimming-baths. In his ground recently put forward by the committee, the reply the prefect has stated that the swimming- chairman and two other members dissenting, for baths are fed either by water from artesian wells or altering the salary. Needless to say a contract by water which has been filtered and subjected to cannot be broken so easily, and the Minister had continuous chlorination. The walls of the swimming- already warned the committee that he would not, baths are cleaned every morning with the help of sanction any variation of the salary. Notwithstanding electric aspirators, and every Monday the baths are this warning the committee passed the resolution. emptied and cleaned. Samples of water are regularly It is not likely that its action is a deliberate attempt taken by the authorities for analysis. The sanitary of the committee to drive the new superintendent, control of the Parisian swimming-baths thus seems into resigning, though it is open to this interpretation. to be satisfactory ; and the officials can hardly be It is more likely to be a mere irresponsible expression expected to catch the individual delinquent who, of irritation at its wishes being over-ruled by the though he knows he is suffering from some infectious Minister. ailment, still insists on diluting his secretions and sharing them with his fellow-bathers. DEFENCE UNION B C G
B C G inoculation continues to hold the attention of the medical profession in France, where its merits have become, to a certain extent, a question of national honour. Accordingly, evidence throwing light on its value is being continuously collected with great assiduity. The latest report comes from Czechoslovakia, and is quoted by the Presse Médicale. After preliminary studies on animals, the State Institute of Hygiene in Czechoslovakia began in 1927 to prepare B C G, a sample of which was controlled in 1931 in Paris by Calmette, who found it to be identical with the Parisian B C G. Up to the end of 1931 a total of 2334 new-born infants had been vaccinated. With every supply of the vaccine sent to tuberculosis dispensaries, lying-in hospitals, and private practitioners, an elaborate questionary was sent. With its help it has been possible to follow the fate of 36-5 per cent. of the vaccinated infants up to the end of 1930. While the mortality among the controlled vaccinated infants was only 3-3 per cent., the general infantile mortality was as high as 14-6 per cent. It is, however, admitted that the vaccinated were as a class better cared for than the non-vaccinated.
IRELAND
(FROM
OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT)
THE CORK MENTAL HOSPITAL DISPUTE
THE committee of the Cork Mental Hospital at its last meeting passed a resolution which must be almost unprecedented in the history of local authorities. The resolution proposed to fix the initial salary of the newly appointed resident medical superintendent at £450, instead of 1750 at which the appointment was advertised. It may be remembered that when a vacancy occurred in the post the committee desired to promote its senior assistant medical officer, a man with long and excellent service in the institution. In order to do this, however, the approval of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health The Minister refused such approval, was requisite. and directed the committee to refer the appointment to the Appointments Commissioners for the recommendation of a candidate. The committee questioned the legality of the Minister’s action in the courts of law, but their case failed. The matter was then referred to the Appointments Commissioners, and the salary fixed by the committee at :E750 a year, rising by annual increments of E25 a year to a maximum of £900, was approved by the Minister, and the vacancy advertised on those terms. In due time the Appointments Commissioners recommended, and the
MEDICAL
Dr. W. S. A. Griffith presided at the 44th annual general meeting of the Union on Sept. 29th, when the report of the Council and the financial statement for 1931 were adopted. It was, he said, the second time he had occupied the chair after an interval of 30 years, during which the membership had increased fourfold. Of additional benefits granted to members in recent years he mentioned the following : (1) An indemnity insurance which provided unlimited cover in respect of damages or costs of the other side. (2) A reciprocal arrangement with the London and Counties Medical Protection Society by which one society will defend a member in an action brought against him as the result of the acts or omissions of an assistant who is a member of the other society. (3) A member of the Union is now defended against the acts or omissions a bona-fide temporary locum tenens, a subordinateofficer, or a non-medical assistant or subof work. (4) When a ordinate in his properissphere obtained for fees and costs,. composite judgment the fees due to a member are now regarded as the first claim on any payment received. (5) Any member who has paid 39 subscriptions may now compound for his future annual subscriptions by one payment of £1. (6) A member who employs an assistant not a member of either society may gain protection in actions brought against him by an additional annual subscription of 10s. During the last twelve months the Union, said Dr. Griffith, had defended an unusually large number of actions in the High Court ; only in one case was a verdict given against a member. In the numerous allegations of negligence, raised against members in the county courts as a reason for not paying professional accounts, in not one instance was judgment given against a member of the Union. Defence against such allegations depended, he said, upon the evidence that can be placed before the court to rebut the allegation, and the prudent man should always have in mind the possibility of such allegations being made, and should avoid, as a matter of routine, any appearance of carelessness. The frequent employment of X ray and bacteriological examinations would constitute valuable evidence of painstaking and thoroughness.. He stressed the imperative necessity of communicating without delay with the general secretary of the Union. in all cases where complaints were made against a member. Many cases, he said, are prejudiced byunwise action taken before consulting him. Sir Hamilton Ballance, Mr. F. C. Larkin, and Dr. E. Lewis Lilley, the retiring members of Council, were re-elected.
of
medical
ST. LUKE’S MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL, BRADFORD.-In the operating theatre of this hospital white has been changed for green. The walls and windows are painted green, and the surgeons and nurses also wear that colour, on theground that white strains the eyes and has a fatiguing effect.
prefect of the Seine questions with regard
to answer certain specific committee appointed, a candidate other than the to the precautions taken to officer they had wished to promote. This is the keep the water clean in the swimming-baths. In his ground recently put forward by the committee, the reply the prefect has stated that the swimming- chairman and two other members dissenting, for baths are fed either by water from artesian wells or altering the salary. Needless to say a contract by water which has been filtered and subjected to cannot be broken so easily, and the Minister had continuous chlorination. The walls of the swimming- already warned the committee that he would not, baths are cleaned every morning with the help of sanction any variation of the salary. Notwithstanding electric aspirators, and every Monday the baths are this warning the committee passed the resolution. emptied and cleaned. Samples of water are regularly It is not likely that its action is a deliberate attempt taken by the authorities for analysis. The sanitary of the committee to drive the new superintendent, control of the Parisian swimming-baths thus seems into resigning, though it is open to this interpretation. to be satisfactory ; and the officials can hardly be It is more likely to be a mere irresponsible expression expected to catch the individual delinquent who, of irritation at its wishes being over-ruled by the though he knows he is suffering from some infectious Minister. ailment, still insists on diluting his secretions and sharing them with his fellow-bathers. DEFENCE UNION B C G
B C G inoculation continues to hold the attention of the medical profession in France, where its merits have become, to a certain extent, a question of national honour. Accordingly, evidence throwing light on its value is being continuously collected with great assiduity. The latest report comes from Czechoslovakia, and is quoted by the Presse Médicale. After preliminary studies on animals, the State Institute of Hygiene in Czechoslovakia began in 1927 to prepare B C G, a sample of which was controlled in 1931 in Paris by Calmette, who found it to be identical with the Parisian B C G. Up to the end of 1931 a total of 2334 new-born infants had been vaccinated. With every supply of the vaccine sent to tuberculosis dispensaries, lying-in hospitals, and private practitioners, an elaborate questionary was sent. With its help it has been possible to follow the fate of 36-5 per cent. of the vaccinated infants up to the end of 1930. While the mortality among the controlled vaccinated infants was only 3-3 per cent., the general infantile mortality was as high as 14-6 per cent. It is, however, admitted that the vaccinated were as a class better cared for than the non-vaccinated.
IRELAND
(FROM
OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT)
THE CORK MENTAL HOSPITAL DISPUTE
THE committee of the Cork Mental Hospital at its last meeting passed a resolution which must be almost unprecedented in the history of local authorities. The resolution proposed to fix the initial salary of the newly appointed resident medical superintendent at £450, instead of 1750 at which the appointment was advertised. It may be remembered that when a vacancy occurred in the post the committee desired to promote its senior assistant medical officer, a man with long and excellent service in the institution. In order to do this, however, the approval of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health The Minister refused such approval, was requisite. and directed the committee to refer the appointment to the Appointments Commissioners for the recommendation of a candidate. The committee questioned the legality of the Minister’s action in the courts of law, but their case failed. The matter was then referred to the Appointments Commissioners, and the salary fixed by the committee at :E750 a year, rising by annual increments of E25 a year to a maximum of £900, was approved by the Minister, and the vacancy advertised on those terms. In due time the Appointments Commissioners recommended, and the
MEDICAL
Dr. W. S. A. Griffith presided at the 44th annual general meeting of the Union on Sept. 29th, when the report of the Council and the financial statement for 1931 were adopted. It was, he said, the second time he had occupied the chair after an interval of 30 years, during which the membership had increased fourfold. Of additional benefits granted to members in recent years he mentioned the following : (1) An indemnity insurance which provided unlimited cover in respect of damages or costs of the other side. (2) A reciprocal arrangement with the London and Counties Medical Protection Society by which one society will defend a member in an action brought against him as the result of the acts or omissions of an assistant who is a member of the other society. (3) A member of the Union is now defended against the acts or omissions a bona-fide temporary locum tenens, a subordinateofficer, or a non-medical assistant or subof work. (4) When a ordinate in his properissphere obtained for fees and costs,. composite judgment the fees due to a member are now regarded as the first claim on any payment received. (5) Any member who has paid 39 subscriptions may now compound for his future annual subscriptions by one payment of £1. (6) A member who employs an assistant not a member of either society may gain protection in actions brought against him by an additional annual subscription of 10s. During the last twelve months the Union, said Dr. Griffith, had defended an unusually large number of actions in the High Court ; only in one case was a verdict given against a member. In the numerous allegations of negligence, raised against members in the county courts as a reason for not paying professional accounts, in not one instance was judgment given against a member of the Union. Defence against such allegations depended, he said, upon the evidence that can be placed before the court to rebut the allegation, and the prudent man should always have in mind the possibility of such allegations being made, and should avoid, as a matter of routine, any appearance of carelessness. The frequent employment of X ray and bacteriological examinations would constitute valuable evidence of painstaking and thoroughness.. He stressed the imperative necessity of communicating without delay with the general secretary of the Union. in all cases where complaints were made against a member. Many cases, he said, are prejudiced byunwise action taken before consulting him. Sir Hamilton Ballance, Mr. F. C. Larkin, and Dr. E. Lewis Lilley, the retiring members of Council, were re-elected.
of
medical
ST. LUKE’S MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL, BRADFORD.-In the operating theatre of this hospital white has been changed for green. The walls and windows are painted green, and the surgeons and nurses also wear that colour, on theground that white strains the eyes and has a fatiguing effect.