QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT


The danger of medico-legal entanglements is exceedingly slight. There is no law to compel any physician to prescribe according to any set formula. Regimentation in medicine is at present limited to psychological pressure. Compulsion by legal means is as yet somewhat remote. Medical freedom is still worth a good fight.


Note–Send questions to Dr. Eugene Underhill, Jr., 2010 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, ..

Question: WHY SHOULD HOMOEOPATHS BE SO BACK-WARD IN ACCEPTING NEW DRUGS OF RECOGNIZED VALUE SUCH AS SULFANILAMIDE AND SULFAPYRIDINE? It seems to me that our branch of the profession should at least attempt to keep up with the general advance along therapeutic lines. In falling to do so we invite criticism and loss of public confidence.

Answer: According to William S. Middleton, M.D., of Madison, Wisconsin, the American public consumed 187 tons of sulfanilamide in the year 1938. Just how many tons were prescribed by the homoeopathic “branch” of the profession was not stated. Dr. Middleton very wisely suggests the need for a “check rein on drug consumption” in the United States. (Weekly Roster and Medical Digest, Philadelphia, ., Feb. 17, 1940, page 777.).

As homoeopathists we have no objection to the use of proven drugs prescribed on the symptoms of the provings and we are ready to accept both sulfanilamide and sulfa-pyridine on this basis, but we refuse to have these or any other drugs crammed down our (or our patients) throats by high pressure advertising and selling methods. Routinism is the curse of medical therapeutics. It should have no place in homoeopathic prescribing.

Question: HOW IS A HOMOEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN TO DEFEND HIS POSITION AND PRESCRIBE ACCORDING TO PRINCIPLE WHEN ALL THE SENTIMENT AND PULL IS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION? IS HE NOT INCURRING RISK IN RUNNING CONTRARY TO ACCEPTED METHODS?.

Answer: We beg to offer the following suggestions:.

1. Have confidence in homoeopathy through a thorough understanding of its principles and philosophy.

2. Study and acquire confidence in your own knowledge and ability as a prescriber.

3. Be fearless and aggressive. The law of averages as regards therapeutic results is bound to be in your favor.

4. Boost homoeopathy to your clientele. It needs no apology.

5. The danger of medico-legal entanglements is exceedingly slight. There is no law to compel any physician to prescribe according to any set formula. Regimentation in medicine is at present limited to psychological pressure. Compulsion by legal means is as yet somewhat remote. Medical freedom is still worth a good fight.

Allan D. Sutherland
Dr. Sutherland graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia and was editor of the Homeopathic Recorder and the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Allan D. Sutherland was born in Northfield, Vermont in 1897, delivered by the local homeopathic physician. The son of a Canadian Episcopalian minister, his father had arrived there to lead the local parish five years earlier and met his mother, who was the daughter of the president of the University of Norwich. Four years after Allan’s birth, ministerial work lead the family first to North Carolina and then to Connecticut a few years afterward.
Starting in 1920, Sutherland began his premedical studies and a year later, he began his medical education at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia.
Sutherland graduated in 1925 and went on to intern at both Children’s Homeopathic Hospital and St. Luke’s Homeopathic Hospital. He then was appointed the chief resident at Children’s. With the conclusion of his residency and 2 years of clinical experience under his belt, Sutherland opened his own practice in Philadelphia while retaining a position at Children’s in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.
In 1928, Sutherland decided to set up practice in Brattleboro.