Medicine: Free Treatment

Doctors customarily treat other doctors without a fee. Now and then some successful practitioner, deluged by a host of ailing colleagues, has revolted against this inroad on his time, has rendered bills, has lost much of his free practice. In Germany, some of the profession are now in active conflict on this point. Prof. Julius Schwalbe, editor of the Deutsche Medizin-ische Wochenschrift, is leading the attack on this ancient custom, and cites the case of a specialist in diseases of the eye who treated a colleague suffering from a severe in flammation of the iris. The specialist said that he had visited his colleague’s residence 20 times and that the patient had come to his office at least 300 times. He demanded 1700 marks in payment and the colleague objected. The court, finding that free treatment of other physicians is the custom, refused to grant judgment in the case.