University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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MEDICAL SCHOOL Medical School Section Editor Paul M. Lewis Renewing an old association after a lapse of many years, the Yearbook of the School of Medicine has, in 1933, become an integral part of the University of Pittsburgh Owl. As the record of a single year of Medical School life, the medical section rightly takes its place as an important part of the history of graduate and undergraduate University affairs. If any measure of success has been achieved in compiling these annals, we gratefully acknowledge the help and co-operation of the staff of the 1933 Owl. We honour association has been one of mutual benefit, and that it may continue to prosper in the future. The Editor. 24

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UNIVERSITY O F PITTSBURGH cost to reach the present objective, alive to our own shortcomings ami alert to a solution which will Ik- safe for the public and just to ourselves. We should not get excited about the remedies suggested by people who have already run amuck in their own line of business. The active discussion, so much of it confusing, which apiK-ars in literature today. l)oth in lay and medical journals, must necessarily have a disturbing and conflicting influence upon the minds of young men and women about to enter the practice of medicine. The subject of charity has grown increasingly difficult because of a greater appreciation on the part of the community that poverty is a condition which should not Ik- permitted to exist. This development indicates the presence of a better religion and in centuries to come there is little doubt that our ideals will be realized. One of the great difficulties in the present era is that we are inclined to make haste faster than our financial condition will permit. All these complex problems might be settled over night if we had the money to meet the many issues. It does not appear, however, that this is the plan of the Creator. It seems necessary that we earn our way and it is apparently in the scheme of life that all advancement is earned only at the expense of toil and suffering. There is one great trouble in dealing with this subject and that is in the lack of knowledge as to what the causes are and how to deal with them. There is an increasing number of people who are interested in the welfare of humanity, some of whom contribute money, others time and effort, and, unfortunately, another group who feel that if they can enlist the free services of others that their own responsibility has been discharged. In this confusion we should remember that for all time the members of our profession have given freely of their strength to those in physical and mental distress when necessary, without thought of reward. The great question to decide is what is charity and when and how it should Ik- applied. Poverty may Ik- due to misfortune, injustice, or to a hereditary lack of effort and its treatment must eventually Ik- based ujKm the cause, but in the meantime the honest and right-minded physician will continue to contribute his service as in the past, and it is to Ik- hoped that the other members of society may catch the inspiration of his example and honestly give of themselves, either in a financial way or through service on a plane equal to that of the physician. So far as the doctor is concerned, it is doubtful whether he would Ik happy if his opportunity to serve humanity as lie chose were taken away. There is much excitement about changing methods of practice, state medicine, so-called, and recently group practice, as recommended by the Committee on the Cost of Medical Care, which are causing wide discussion among the profession. Any kind of practice which interferes with the growth and development of the individual in medicine will fail, because it is based upon a false doctrine. Surely we should have the intelligence to profit from the experience of foreign countries. If we do not. then there will Ik- a jK-riod of retrogression in medicine in this country as it has actually occurred in Germany, the country in which it originated. In the end we will rise- above it and advance wiser for the experiment. If every young man in medicine could Ik- prevailed upon to hold himself free and unhamjK-red by any form of contract which might interfere with Ills chosen line of growth, great will Ik- his satisfaction and pleasure in the field of medicine. If he builds on the right foundation his life will not differ from the lives of physicians in the past, except that with improved methods in diagnosis and treatment he may have greater reward in the satisfaction that conies with lK-»ter service. If making money is his chief aim, he should enter another field. 23

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U N I V E R S T y O F PITTSBURGH Medical School Section Business Manaser William F. Hkkiim, Jk. THE STAFF Albert A. Baraff C. K. D’Z.mira Marsiiai.i. W. Graham Frank J. Gregg John J. Huebner Edgar L. Jamison Alexaxder Mcl'.wan William X. Fitch ford W. Glknn Srodks Emerson J. Stkknrod FACULTY ADVISORS Dr. James Delavan Heard 25 Dr. William S. McKli.roy